SCOTLAND

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office has not let any contracts and does not plan to put out to tender any contracts in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to put up a capital bond.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office has not let any contracts and does not plan to put out to tender any contracts in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million.

Disclosure of Information

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases of (a) data loss and (b) breaches of confidentiality occurred in his Department in 2011.

David Mundell: There were no reported cases of (a) data loss and (b) breaches of confidentiality in the Scotland Office during 2011.

Iron and Steel: Investment

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he next plans to meet the First Minister to discuss investment in the Scottish steel industry.

David Mundell: The Government recognise the contribution that the Scottish steel industry makes to the Scottish and UK economies. The Plan for Growth includes a wide range of measures to support the industry across the UK. We have regular discussions with Scottish Ministers on these and other matters of importance to the Scottish economy.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Data Protection

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of (a) data loss and (b) breaches of confidentiality occurred in his Department in 2011.

Owen Paterson: There was one case of data loss and two cases of breaches of confidentiality in the Department during 2011.

Departmental Drinks

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies have spent on (i) wine, (ii) other alcoholic refreshments and (iii) bottled water since May 2010.

Owen Paterson: For the period May 2010 to December 2011, the information requested is as follows:
	
		
			 (a) NIO 
			  £ 
			 Wine 12,250 
			 Other alcoholic refreshments 342 
			 Bottled water 0 
		
	
	Expenditure by my Department on wine or other alcoholic beverages relates solely to the hospitality costs incurred in the hosting, by Ministers, of receptions/events as part of their official duties.
	
		
			 (b) Public bodies 
			  £ 
			 Wine 569 
			 Other alcoholic refreshments 152

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS, on cost of ministerial cars, whether his Department has any other arrangements for ministerial travel; and how much his Department has spent on (a) private hire vehicles and (b) taxis for each Minister since May 2010.

Owen Paterson: The following amounts have been spent by my Department since May 2010 on other arrangements for ministerial travel:
	(a) Private hire cars: Nil;
	(b) Taxis: £1,200.94.

Economic Situation

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what (a) representations he has received on and (b) meetings he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss the Northern Ireland economy in the last three months.

Owen Paterson: I have regular meetings with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne) and Treasury Ministers on a range of economic issues affecting Northern Ireland. The Chancellor takes a close interest in the Northern Ireland economy and was directly involved in the decision to reduce air passenger duty for long haul flights from Northern Ireland airports. The Ministerial Working Group on Rebalancing the Northern Ireland Economy, which is chaired by the Economic Secretary, is undertaking an intensive work programme in advance of the next ministerial meeting on 7 March. The Chancellor is being kept updated with its progress.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Internet

Adam Afriyie: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the cost to the public purse has been of replacing and exchanging the RSA tokens used to access the online expenses scheme.

Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	Letter from Andrew McDonald, dated 10 February 2012
	As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking about the cost of replacing and exchanging RSA tokens issued to Members of Parliament and their staff.
	The information has already been published in the answer to PQ 94396, issued on 9 February 2012 (Official Report, 9 February 2012, column 338W).

WALES

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 
	(1)  what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by her Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if she will make a statement,
	(2)  which contracts her Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if she will make a statement.

David Jones: None. The Wales Office does not directly procure contracts but uses the buying power of larger Government Departments such as the Ministry of Justice.

Members: Correspondence

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when she plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Bridgend of 14 November 2011, reference MM/JH/14/11/2011.

Cheryl Gillan: I have committed to answering all correspondence within 15 working days of receipt. My office has conducted a review of its correspondence files and can find no record that MM/JH/14/11/2011 was received by the Department. If the correspondence is re-sent my officials will acknowledge receipt and I will endeavour to answer it as soon as is practicable.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Metals: Theft

Anne McIntosh: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church Commissioners are taking to seek amendments to planning laws applying to church buildings to permit a substitute for lead following theft.

Tony Baldry: The Church Commissioners are not taking such steps at the present time. Guidance issued by the Cathedral and Church Buildings Council strongly advises the use of traditional materials where it is reasonable, although it recognises situations where the use of alternatives is acceptable, especially for roofs that are not visible or where there have been multiple thefts.

DEFENCE

Air Training Corps

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of the senior management structure of the Air Training Corps;
	(2)  what the policy is of the Air Training Corps on replacing serving officers with younger staff in the case of (a) volunteer officers aged 55 to 60 and (b) full-time salaried officers aged 65 to 70;
	(3)  what the (a) salary, (b) overtime, (c) military pensions, (d) service accommodation and (e) staff car and drivers cost was of each of the Air Training Corps Group Captain posts in each of the last three years; and what proportion of the total budget of the Air Training Corps these costs represented in each such year;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the cost effectiveness of replacing full-time salaried group captains in the Air Training Corps with volunteer officers.

Nick Harvey: The Ministry of Defence regularly reviews the cost effectiveness of the senior management structure of the Air Training Corps (ATC) along with other Defence programmes during the annual Planning Round process. Additionally the ATC conducted an internal review of the senior management structure in January 2011; a further review will be undertaken in the summer of 2012.
	The Air Training Corps currently has one full-time salaried Group Captain and six B2 grade civil servants, who hold the rank of Group Captain as either RAF Reserve civilian component or as a RAF (Volunteer Reserve Training) officer. These are full time posts and not considered suitable for volunteers.
	The Air Training Corps has no full-time salaried RAF officers aged 65 to 70 and has no policy on replacing volunteer officers aged 55 or over with younger officers. All full-time salaried posts at this level are currently filled by personnel employed under civil service terms and conditions, for which there is no compulsory retirement age. The normal retirement age for RAF Volunteer Reserve Training officers is 55. However, the Commandant Air Cadets has the authority to extend beyond this for periods of up to two years if it is considered to be in the best interests of the Corps.
	The current salary range for an RAF regular officer at Group Captain level is £81,310 to £89,408. The national salary range for civilian grade B2 is £47,942 to £57,245. The level of any pensions (including service military pension) received as retired RAF officers are matters for the individual and personal information, which is protected under the Data Protection Act. Information regarding overtime, service accommodation and driver support costs is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Air Training Corps

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the command structure of the Air Training Corps was last reviewed.

Nick Harvey: The command structure of the Air Training Corps was last reviewed in autumn 2010. A further review is planned later this year.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to decide the (a) date and (b) numbers of troops to be transferred from Germany to Leuchars.

Nick Harvey: The Defence Transformation announcement of 18 July 2011 set out our strategic long-term direction on the structure of the Army and its basing requirements across the United Kingdom.
	The detailed work on the future design of the Army is expected to be completed in spring 2012. Until then, it is too early to say precisely when and how many Army personnel will relocate from Germany to RAF Leuchars.

Armed Forces: Health Professions

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many civilian medical personnel have been deployed in operational roles in each of the last 10 years; and what the (a) grades and (b) specialities were of those personnel.

Andrew Robathan: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Ser (a) Year (b) Summary of civilian medical personnel deployed (c) Number by trade (d) 
			 1 2002-07 —(1)  
			     
			 2 2008 1 1 x A&E nurse 
			     
			 3 2009 6 2 x ITU nurses 
			    2 x A&E nurses 
			    1 x Paediatric nurse 
		
	
	
		
			    1 x Bio-medical scientist 
			     
			 4 2010 15 7 x ITU nurses 
			    4 x Bio-medical scientists 
			    2 x Paediatric nurses 
			    1 x A&E nurse 
			    1 x Pharmacist 
			     
			 5 2011 19 4 x ITU nurses 
			    8 x Paediatric nurses 
			    1 x Sexual health nurse 
			    4 x Bio-medical scientists 
			    1 x A&E nurse 
			    1 x Pharmacist 
			     
			 6 2012(2) 2 1 x Paediatric nurse 
			    1 x Bio-medical scientist 
			 (1) Around 44 civilian medical personnel were deployed on operations between 2002 and 2007. An exact breakdown by year and trade is not available. (2) As at February. 
		
	
	The grades of nurses deployed on operations vary, but all are required to be above “E” Grade. The terms of reference require this as a minimum but do not stipulate a maximum. All contractors’ CVs are vetted by Defence Nursing Advisers.
	Civilian nurses that deploy on operations will generally go for a period of three months. Some have opted to extend to six months and some may go twice in a year.
	A number of civilian medical welfare officers were also deployed, but they are not included as although they are a vital part of the UK Med Gp they are not part of the deployed clinical capability. This information is available if required for the period 2008 to 2012.

Armed Forces: Housing Benefit

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect of an under-occupancy provision for housing benefit on single members of the armed forces with a parent receiving that benefit.

Andrew Robathan: I have had no such discussions. However, my officials continue to work closely with other Government Departments on matters that affect members of the armed forces, their families, and veterans within the auspices of the armed forces covenant.

Armed Forces: Lancashire

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has to improve service personnel housing at Weeton Army Camp.

Andrew Robathan: 99% of the service family accommodation at Weeton is at the two highest standards for condition.
	The Ministry of Defence plans to replace doors, windows and boilers in number of properties in the next financial year.

Armed Forces: Manpower

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many (a) Royal Navy, (b) Army and (c) RAF (ii) full-time personnel and (ii) reservists were based in each (A) region, (B) local authority and (C) constituency in 2011; and how many such personnel he expects to be based in each such area at the conclusion of tranches 1 and 2 of the Armed Forces Redundancy Programme;
	(2)  how many (a) Gurkhas, (b) full-time soldiers and (c) reservists were based in each (i) region, (ii) local authority and (iii) constituency in 2011; and how many such service personnel he expects to be based in each such area at the conclusion of tranches 1 and 2 of the Armed Forces Redundancy Programme.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 8 February 2012
	The requested information, where available, has been placed in the Library of the House.
	Location information in respect of reserve forces is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Tranche 2 of the Armed Forces Redundancy Programme was launched on 17 January 2012 and the outcome will not be known until June of this year. It is therefore too early to say at this stage how many people in each of these regions will be affected.

Armed Forces: Schools

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel with children receiving the service pupil premium have died since the introduction of the premium.

Andrew Robathan: The service pupil premium is a matter for the Department for Education.
	Each year, the service pupil premium is allocated to local authorities based on the spring schools census. It is currently £200 per child in academic year 2011-12 rising to £250 in 2012-13 for the children of parents who have declared themselves to be a service family. We encourage service families to identify themselves in this process, to maximise the benefit of the service pupil premium, but this is not mandatory. Census data that is collected is not routinely shared with the Ministry of Defence and as a result, we do not hold the requested information.

Defence

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with (a) the European Commission and (b) NATO officials on alerting civil authorities to an incoming missile threat.

Nick Harvey: The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has had no recent discussions with either the European Commission or NATO officials on the subject of alerting civil authorities to an incoming missile threat.

Defence: Innovation

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to promote innovation in the UK defence technology and procurement industry.

Peter Luff: The Government, recently published a White Paper “National Security Through Technology” (Cm 8278), which sets out how we will procure technology, equipment, and support to meet the UK's defence and security needs.
	The White Paper places a strong emphasis on the role that innovation and technology plays in underpinning most of our equipment and support requirements. That is why we intend to sustain investment in science and technology at a minimum of 1.2% of the defence budget—after years of decline under the previous administration.
	We believe that open procurement offers the best catalyst for UK-based industry to be efficient, competitive, and innovative. That is why this Government will continue to support responsible defence and security exports and ensure small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who are an important source of innovation, are able to fulfil their potential. We are also enhancing the role of Centre for Defence Enterprise so that it works more closely with the SMEs it funds; deliberately not specifying technology solutions so suppliers can propose innovative solutions, and encouraging investment in innovation through our proposed Patent Box regime that offers a reduction in corporation tax on profits attributable to patents.

Defence: Technology

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received from BAE Systems on the White Paper, National Security Through Technology: Technology, Equipment, and Support for UK Defence and Security; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: As of 16 February 2012, BAE Systems have made no formal representations to the Ministry of Defence on the White Paper “National Security Through Technology” (CM 8278) since its publication on 1 February 2012. BAE Systems were among the 180 respondents to the corresponding Green Paper published on 20 December 2010.

Departmental Billing

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of his Department’s invoices from its private sector suppliers were paid (a) within 14 days, (b) between 15 and 30 days, (c) between 31 and 60 days, (d) between 61 and 90 days and (e) more than 90 days after receipt in the last 12 months.

Peter Luff: The information is not available in the format requested. The Ministry of Defence publishes monthly prompt payment statistics, which report on the number of invoices paid by the Department within five working days to UK suppliers and 30 calendar days to all suppliers. These statistics can be found at:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/FinanceandProcurement/FMSSC/MinistryOfDefencePaymentPerformance.htm

Departmental Food

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of food purchased by his Department was produced in the UK in each of the last five years.

Peter Luff: The majority of UK based Ministry of Defence personnel are catered for under regional or multi-activity contracts, including catering, retail and leisure. Information on the proportion of food procured from UK suppliers under these arrangements is not held. However, contractors are obliged to source on the open market consistent with meeting EU competition rules and quality standards.
	Personnel not covered by these arrangements, for instance, those serving on operations overseas, are fed through a single food supply contract with Purple Foodservice Solutions Ltd. Approximately 1,150 different food-related items are provided in their core range price list. The proportion of UK sourced food (excluding fresh produce) for the last five full financial years are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Financial year Percentage of UK sourced food (1) 
			 2006-07 43 
			 2007-08 59 
			 2008-09 62 
			 2009-10 60 
			 2010-11 60 
			 (1) Excluding fresh produce.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contracts his Department has awarded directly to third sector organisations in each month since May 2010; what the value was of such contracts; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has not awarded any contracts to organisations in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors in the period since May 2010. However, the Department continues to make payments to such organisations, with whom it does not have a contractual relationship, by grants in aid. I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan) gave on 9 May 2011, Official Report, column 974W, followed by a full reply to the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane) on 7 June 2011, Official Report, column 26W.

Departmental Procurement

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2011, Official Report, column 1347W, on departmental procurement, for what reasons a copy of the Defence Internal Audit was not in the Library on 6 December 2011; and if he will take steps to ensure that it is placed in the Library.

Peter Luff: holding answer 12 December 2011
	The Defence Internal Audit report on Framework Agreement for Technical Support Services needed to be redacted. It was placed in the Library of the House on 13 December 2011.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: Surety bonds, such as performance bonds, are forms of security used by employers to provide protection in the event of a contractor defaulting on its contractual obligations. In line with Cabinet Office guidance, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) assesses the need for a bond on a case by case basis, taking into account factors including the financial standing of the potential contractor, the value of the potential contract and the risks to the MOD of proceeding with the potential contractor.
	The MOD has placed over 3,000 contracts in 2011-12 and information on those which include a bond is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Military Aircraft: Procurement

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the new C-17 military transporter will be delivered.

Peter Luff: On current plans, the aircraft will be delivered in July 2012.

Military Aircraft: Procurement

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral answer of 8 February 2012, Official Report, columns 300-01, on Libya, from which source the savings to fund the purchase of the new C17 aircraft have been made.

Peter Luff: There is no single source for the savings which were used to fund the purchase of the new C17 aircraft. The funds were generated by a range of savings measures we have been undertaking since the strategic defence and security review.

Military Aircraft: Procurement

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral answer of 8 February 2012, Official Report, columns 300-01, on Libya, whether the National Security Council was consulted on the decision to purchase a new C17 aircraft.

Peter Luff: The National Security Council was not consulted on the decision to purchase a new C17 aircraft.
	The procurement of an additional C17 aircraft to increase strategic airlift is assessed as the best means to deliver the strategic direction as set by the National Security Council. As this procurement required expenditure in excess of departmental delegations, approval was sought from HM Treasury.

Military Aircraft: Procurement

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral answer of 8 February 2012, Official Report, columns 300-01, on Libya, what the cost of the new C17 aircraft will be. [Official Report, 23 February 2012, Vol. 540, c. 4MC.]

Peter Luff: The cost of the new C-17 aircraft is subject to final commercial negotiations but, as announced by the Prime Minister on 8 February 2012, Official Report, columns 300-01, it is expected to be in the region of £300 million.

Military Bases: Kirknewton

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 18 January 2012, Official Report, column 830W, on military bases, when the former Secretary of State for Defence discussed the creation of an Army base at Kirknewton with the Scottish Government and the First Minister of Scotland; and whether a written note was taken of the discussions.

Nick Harvey: The previous Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), and the First Minister of Scotland (Alex Salmond MSP) held two face to face meetings. These were on 11 January and 26 May 2011 and took place when they were both in London and Glasgow respectively. The meetings were not minuted.
	They also had a number of telephone conversations during the period of the Basing Review, in which they discussed a range of issues.

Military Bases: Northern Ireland

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the future of the Thiepval Army Base in Lisburn;
	(2)  on how many occasions he has met (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (b) the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and (c) other ministerial colleagues to discuss his Department’s basing arrangements in Northern Ireland; and what was discussed on each such occasion.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The current Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has had no meetings to discuss the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) basing arrangements in Northern Ireland, or specifically in Thiepval Army Base. MOD officials are, however, frequently in touch with their counterparts in other Departments to ensure that such issues are fully discussed and communicated.

Military Bases: Northern Ireland

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) military and (b) civilian staff have been employed at the Thiepval Army Base in Lisburn in each of the last five years.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The approximate number of staff employed at Thiepval Army Base are contained in the following table.
	
		
			 As at  1  April each year Military Civilian 
			 2007 1,070 830 
			 2008 720 680 
			 2009 1,240 590 
			 2010 1,200 600 
			 2011 1,200 580 
		
	
	The reduction in military numbers in April 2008 was due to the cessation of Operation Banner which saw the relocation of some units to the mainland during 2007. These units were replaced during 2008.

Military Bases: Northern Ireland

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to consult (a) local authorities, (b) hon. Members and (c) the Northern Ireland Executive on the future of the Thiepval Army Base in Lisburn.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The Defence Infrastructure Organisation is currently undertaking a review into the Ministry of Defence estate which is expected to be completed later this year. This review, along with the outcome of the Army’s work into its future size and structure will allow planning to take place to make the optimum use of the existing defence estate. Once these plans begin to take shape, local authorities, hon. Members and where relevant the devolved Administrations will be consulted.

NATO

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what NATO smart-defence projects the UK will lead.

Nick Harvey: At the recent NATO Defence Ministers' meeting, the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), announced that the UK would offer to lead projects on Immersive Training Environments and on Theatre Opening Capability.

Piracy

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to ensure that the Royal Navy has at least one ship deployed on counter-piracy operations at any one time.

Nick Harvey: The Royal Navy maintains a constant presence, including at least one frigate or destroyer, east of Suez. These vessels are able to carry out a number of duties including specific deliberate counter piracy operations as the need arises, while their general presence in the region, together with ships from a variety of other nations' navies, provides a deterrent to piracy. In addition, additional forces are periodically deployed for dedicated counter piracy operations.
	Since 2008, the Royal Navy has contributed to EU, NATO and Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) counter piracy operations in several capacities—from the contribution of assets, to the provision of the Operational Headquarters and Operational Commander for the EU's Operation Atalanta.

RAF Kinloss

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to have an estimate of the cost of converting RAF Kinloss into an army base; and when such work will be completed.

Andrew Robathan: The previous Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), announced the results of the Ministry of Defence's Basing Review on 18 July 2011. He made it clear that the Basing Review provided the strategic direction for the return of our armed forces from Germany and the rationalisation of the Defence Estate. He also made it clear that detailed implementation work would continue over the next 10 years.
	The work to implement the Basing Review is ongoing, and does not yet include a formal estimate for the cost of enabling RAF Kinloss to be used by the Army.

Reserve Forces: Finance

Jim McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the budget for the (a) Territorial Army, (b) Royal Auxiliary Air Force, (c) Royal Marine Reserve and (d) Royal Navy Reserve in (i) the UK and (ii) Scotland up to 2015;
	(2)  what estimate his Department has made of Royal Marine Reserve (a) manpower and (b) budget in (i) the UK and (ii) Scotland up to 2015.

Andrew Robathan: Budgets for the reserve forces are allocated for the UK as a whole and not by region. It is therefore not possible to identify the budget specifically for Scotland.
	The following table provides information on the provisional budget allocation for the reserve forces until 31 March 2015. As we continue to address the budget deficit and implement the planned force structures for Future Reserves 2020 in accordance with the announcement made on 18 July 2012, these figures may be subject to revision.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Financial year 
			  2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 Royal Navy and Royal Marines 29 29 31 
			 Army 310 320 330 
			 Royal Air Force 9 10 11 
			 Note: These figures are rounded to the nearest £ million. 
		
	
	Manpower for the Royal Marines Reserves is expected to remain constant at some 1,000 personnel, with approximately 200 in Scotland.

Reserve Forces: Olympic Games 2012

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role he proposes reserve forces will have in (a) protecting and (b) facilitating the London 2012 Olympics.

Nick Harvey: The military contribution to the security of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is expected to include volunteer reservists from all three armed forces. Reservists will be involved in a range of roles in both protecting and facilitating the games by contributing to the venue security force and through specialist roles in support of the wider security operation.

Trident Submarines

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effect on the (a) design schedule and (b) building programme of the successor to the Trident submarine of the announcement by his US counterpart that the next generation of US ballistic missile submarine will be delayed for two years; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The UK and the US are working collaboratively to develop a common missile compartment that will meet the requirements of the UK programme to replace our Vanguard class submarines, and of the US programme to replace its Ohio class submarines. The US Department of Defence announced on 26 January 2012 its intention to delay the Ohio replacement programme by two years, but has confirmed that this will not undermine the partnership with the UK.
	UK and US officials are working on developing a revised schedule. Our current assessment is that the US programme delay will not affect our ability to meet the planned date of entry into service of 2028, as stated in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (Cm7948). The US explicitly stated in January 2012 that their delay will not impact upon our partnership.

Trident Submarines

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the financial effect of (a) retaining, (b) replacing and (c) disposing of (i) the Vanguard-clan fleet of submarines and (ii) Britain's nuclear deterrent.

Peter Luff: As stated in the White Paper, “The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent” (Cm 6994) published in December 2006, the in-service costs of the UK's nuclear deterrent are around 5% of the defence budget.
	The White Paper also stated that the expected cost of replacing the submarine, warhead and infrastructure is £15 to £20 billion (at 2006 constant prices), of which £11 to £14 billion is for the replacement submarine. As noted in the Parliamentary Report “The United Kingdom's Future Nuclear Deterrent: The Submarine Initial Gate”, published in May 2011, we assess that these estimates are still accurate.
	The costs of disposing of the Vanguard class submarines fall within the costs of the Ministry of Defence's Submarine Dismantling Project. It is not possible at this stage of the project, however, to separate out the costs of disposing of the Vanguard class from the overall cost of the project. We do not hold estimates for the disposal costs of the UK's nuclear deterrent as a whole.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to answer question 75126 tabled on 17 October 2011; and if he will explain the reasons for the time taken in answering the question.

Peter Luff: I have today replied to the hon. Member and apologise for the delay in responding to your parliamentary question (75126) of 17 October 2011, which resulted from the need to check the nature of MOD’s various payments to third sector organisations.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Emissions

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the likely saving in carbon dioxide emissions of increasing home insulation in the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal and energy company obligation (ECO) are intended to transform the delivery of energy efficiency measures across the economy. The Government's assessment of the impact of these policies was published in the November 2011 consultation draft impact assessment:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/consultation/green-deal/3603-green-deal-eco-ia.pdf
	The Government are currently considering responses to the recent public consultation, and will publish a response in due course, accompanied by a final impact assessment.
	Under the central policy scenario in the consultation assessment, the following CO2 savings (above business as usual) from the take up of insulation measures in the domestic sector were estimated:
	
		
			 Annual MtCO 2  saved 2013 2014 2015 
			 Non-traded 0.42 0.87 1.28 
			 Traded 0.11 0.22 0.33 
		
	
	Traded carbon emissions are those covered by the EU emissions trading scheme, which cover electricity generation and some industrial processes. Energy savings in properties with electric heating lead to traded CO2 emissions savings, while energy savings in properties with non-electric heating systems lead to savings in non-traded CO2 emissions.

Carbon Sequestration

Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to his Department's forthcoming Energy Intensive Industries Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to develop industrial carbon capture and storage in the UK.

Charles Hendry: The Carbon Plan, which was published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change on 1 December 2011, identified the important role that CCS could play in decarbonisation of the industrial sector. The Government announced in the autumn statement a package of measures to support the industrial sector in the transition to a low carbon economy and are working with industry to address the key issues. Further details on the package will be published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills later this year.
	The Department is working on a CCS Roadmap, which will explore the long-term development of CCS for both power and energy intensive industries. We will be launching a streamlined process for selection of CCS projects as soon as possible after the second CCS Industry Day on 22 February. We are currently developing the details of the new process and are considering the potential inclusion of industrial CO2 emitters where they support the development of CCS clusters.

Carbon Sequestration

Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to develop carbon capture and storage infrastructure in (a) the North East and (b) other major emitting regions in the UK.

Charles Hendry: The Department is in regular contact with developers and proponents of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in the North East and elsewhere in the UK. These projects will be considered alongside those from other regions in our forthcoming CCS competition.

Carbon Sequestration

Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects that the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage will publish its roadmap for carbon capture and storage.

Charles Hendry: The Department is currently working on a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Roadmap and we expect this to be published when the new streamlined selection process for future CCS projects is launched. We aim to do this as soon as possible after the second CCS Industry Day on 22 February. The Industry Day will form part of our ongoing discussions with industry on the future CCS competition.

Climate Change

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of global climate models in forecasting regional and short-term variations in climate.

Gregory Barker: Global climate models are based on fundamental laws of physics and are rigorously tested against observations and other models to assess their reliability. The most recent generation of models include representations of many parts of the climate system including the atmosphere, the oceans, sea ice, land surface, biological and chemical processes. The Department's assessment is that that they are able to simulate many key features of present-day climate systems and given a range of assumptions about factors which affect the climate system including greenhouse gas emissions, are used to project global climate up to centuries ahead. There are modelling uncertainties and these increase at smaller and smaller time and space scales. It is particularly challenging to predict short term (seasonal to multi-annual) variations in climate because of the chaotic nature of weather and climate systems on these timescales. Regional predictions are expected to improve with the introduction of models with a higher spatial resolution as computing capacity increases. These are areas of active research.

Departmental Recruitment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on (a) recruitment services and (b) executive search agencies in each month since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Department spent £91,503 in financial year 2010-11 on external recruitment costs and has spent £161,691 so far in financial year 2011-12. This compares with spending of £809,819 in financial year 2009-10.
	The Department's spending in financial year 2011-12 included recruitments of a NDPB chair, several senior posts in the Department including the Chief Engineer, Chief Economist and Chief Operating Officer.
	The Department's spend on external recruitment costs for the period April 2010 to December 2011 is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Month Total (£) 
			 2010 May 5,925 
			  June 4,175 
			  July 5,078 
			  August 0 
			  September 13,658 
			  October -12,329 
			  November 17,500 
			  December -518 
			    
			 2011 January 0 
			  February 26,699 
			  March 30,797 
			  April 0 
			  May 0 
			  June 31,226 
			  July 5,000 
			  August 17,000 
			  September 41,097 
			  October 34,268 
			  November 21,743 
			  December -330 
			    
			 2012 January 11,687

Electricity: Prices

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what support his Department's plans to provide to people who rent their properties under its proposals to encourage customers to switch energy suppliers to reduce their electricity bill.

Gregory Barker: People who are renting their property may switch to the supplier of their choice, in the same way as homeowners, if they are responsible for the energy supply under the terms of their tenancy agreement.

Energy: Expenditure

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the level of curtailment payments made to (a) offshore wind, (b) onshore wind, (c) hydro-power, (d) solar, (e) coal-fired power stations, (f) nuclear generators and (g) other generators in each of the last five years.

Charles Hendry: In order to ensure the secure operation of the electricity system, National Grid takes over a thousand actions each day to balance supply and demand, including paying generators of all types to alter their output. This is a normal part of our market system.
	Data on payments to individual generators is published by Elexon, an independent subsidiary of National Grid, at:
	http://www.bmreports.com/
	Data for the categories requested is not readily available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Energy: Planning Permission

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on the transfer of powers to the National Assembly for Wales for granting planning permission for energy generation projects (a) on land and (b) at sea in Wales.

Charles Hendry: The Government support decision making at the most appropriate level. For major energy infrastructure in England and Wales, we consider that the right decision maker is the DECC Secretary of State. A streamlined planning system for major energy infrastructure that minimises delay and unpredictability and ensures investor confidence is best delivered through a unified planning system for England and Wales.
	The Government are clear that any requests for further devolution of powers to either the Welsh Ministers or the Assembly should be considered in light of any recommendations of the Silk Commission, which is currently reviewing the financial and constitutional arrangements in Wales.

Fife Energy Park: Expenditure

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding the Government has spent on the Fife Energy Park in Methil.

Charles Hendry: DECC is not involved in the funding of the Fife Energy park. However one business currently based on the park, Burntisland Fabrications Ltd, was a recipient of a grant from DECC (together with the Department for Business) in the 2009 Offshore Wind Demonstration funding call, for a project to develop advanced manufacturing techniques for an offshore wind jacket foundation.

Green Deal

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has to increase the number of people insulating (a) lofts and (b) cavity walls under the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal and energy company obligation are projected to support and increase employment in the insulation sector up to 65,000 by 2015. As we near completion of the easy-to-treat cavities and lofts in the housing stock, the majority of the opportunities will be in insulating “hard to treat” properties: those with solid walls and more difficult to treat cavity walls.

Green Deal

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much private sector investment in energy efficiency in London he expects to result from the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: The Department's estimate of the level of Green Deal private finance is set out in the draft impact assessment published on 23 November 2011. The final impact assessment will be published in the spring. These figures are national and DECC has not carried out an assessment of the private finance requirement on a regional basis.
	The impact assessment can be seen at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/consultation/green-deal/3603-green-deal-eco-ia.pdf

Green Deal

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many jobs he expects to be created in London as a result of the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: It is not possible to provide figures for the number of jobs that will be created in London. It is estimated that by 2015 the number of jobs in Great Britain as a result of the Green Deal and energy company obligation could be up to 65,000.

Green Deal

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how he plans to stimulate participation in the Green Deal; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: We have announced a £200 million injection of Government funding to help boost early take up of the Green Deal. This will provide a special time limited ‘introductory’ offer to ensure the Green Deal hits the ground running. DECC is also working in partnership with our stakeholders to look at further ways of stimulating demand.
	There are also existing or potential regulatory leavers that will help drive demand.
	We have acted to address the worst private rented sector buildings. From 2016 all domestic tenants will not be unreasonably refused consent from their landlords to make energy efficiency improvements to their homes and from 2018 it will be unlawful to rent out domestic or non-domestic properties which fall below an ‘E’ energy efficiency rating.
	In addition, the Department for Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on changes to Part L of the Building Regulations that could further drive take up of energy efficiency measures from October 2012.

Green Deal Scheme: Job Creation

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what methodology was used to calculate his Department's estimate of 65,000 jobs to be created by 2020 as a result of the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: The number of jobs supported by the Green Deal is calculated using the estimates of energy efficiency measures uptake presented in the Green Deal consultation impact assessment. The number installers needed to meet demand in each year is estimated using annual measure sales and the assumed productivity of individual installers. The estimates of installer productivity are based on discussions with the industry. The supporting supply chain job estimates are based on a 2009 Innovas market report, which lists the current number of jobs in different business sectors. This was used to calculate the ratio between installer numbers and supply chain jobs (manufacturing, supply, distribution, development).

Housing: Insulation

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect on jobs and business of recently announced changes to subsidies for loft insulation and cavity wall insulation;
	(2)  what the impact on the Green Deal will be of recently announced reductions in subsidies for loft insulation and cavity wall insulation; and what consideration he has given to providing a transition period prior to the changes coming into effect.

Gregory Barker: We currently estimate that Government programmes to promote energy efficiency will support around 65,000 insulation sector jobs in 2015, which represents an increase from the present total of 27,000 jobs. The existing Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and Community Energy Saving Programme schemes will transition to the new Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) at the end of 2012. The recent public consultation on Green Deal and ECO included discussion of issues relating to the transition between CERT/CESP and Green Deal/ECO. We are currently considering responses to the consultation, and consideration of the impacts of transition will be included in the final version of the impact assessment accompanying the Government's response.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

Glyn Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department is undertaking any investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change is not currently undertaking any investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2012, Official Report, column 602W, on renewable energy: feed-in tariffs, what (a) factors were included in and (b) assumptions were made when calculating the £1.5 billion figure for additional lifetime cost.

Gregory Barker: Our stated estimate that not appealing to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal's judgment on feed-in tariffs would lead to £1.5 billion additional lifetime costs to consumers was based on assumptions about the possible rate of PV deployment in February and March 2012, informed by the surge of installations seen in the run up to the proposed 12 December 2011 reference date.
	We respectfully disagree with the decision of the Court of Appeal, and intend to seek to appeal to the Supreme Court against the ruling. However, if we had chosen not to do so, there would have been much greater costs to consumers both due to installations between 12 December 2011 and 3 March 2012 receiving higher tariffs (of 43.3p/kWh for installations up to 4 kW of installed capacity) for 25 years, and because of a likely increase in installation rate due to continued availability of the higher tariffs.
	It is very difficult to estimate by how much the installation rate might have increased, since this involves assumptions about demand for PV at the higher tariffs and the ability of the market to respond to that. We based our estimate on the observed increase in installation rate in the six weeks between the launch of the consultation on tariffs for solar PV on 31 October and the proposed reference date of 12 December, which saw 292 MW (over 74,000 installations) more PV installed than in the previous six week period.
	Conservatively, we assumed that there might be an additional 200 MW installed in February and March if the higher tariffs had remained available. Assuming the deployment was split between tariff bands in a similar ratio as earlier deployment (with around 75% of <50 kW capacity being in the 0-4 kW band), this would have led to additional costs to consumers of approximately £100 million per annum, or £1.5 billion in real, discounted terms over the tariff lifetime.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many organisations in London have received support from the Renewable Heat Incentive to date.

Gregory Barker: None of the five installations accredited to date by Ofgem for support from the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme are based in London. Payments under the scheme will be made on a quarterly basis following submission of eligible heat usage data. We expect to make the first payments in March.

Warm Front Scheme: Doncaster

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people in (a) Don Valley constituency and (b) Doncaster borough received Warm Front grants in (i) 2008-09, (ii) 2009-10, (iii) 2010-11 and (iv) 2011-12.

Gregory Barker: The number of households assisted under the Warm Front scheme in (a) Don Valley constituency and (b) Doncaster borough since 2008 is as follows:
	
		
			  Don Valley Doncaster borough 
			 2008-09 573 2,381 
			 2009-10 560 2,018 
			 2010-11 356 1,182 
			 2011-12(1) 40 125 
			 Total 1,529 5,706 
			 (1) Up to 31 January 2012

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many customers who were on social tariffs offered by energy companies prior to the introduction of the Warm Home Discount scheme will not qualify for the scheme.

Gregory Barker: The Warm Home Discount scheme was specifically designed to allow suppliers to provide a smooth transition for consumers from the previous voluntary agreement under which they provide social and discounted tariffs. Suppliers were provided with sufficient flexibility in year one of the scheme to assist all those who had been helped in the final year of voluntary agreement and could use the same eligibility criteria for providing this assistance to low income and vulnerable households.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will consider extending the Warm Home Discount scheme to people with medical conditions affecting body temperature.

Gregory Barker: The Warm Home Discount scheme is designed to provide support to those who are both low income and vulnerable, to ensure that the available resources are targeted at those most in need. Targeting assistance on the basis of medical condition alone would not take account of income and therefore would not provide the same level of assurance that support would be provided to those most in need of assistance with energy costs.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Welfare: Circuses

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the joint letter dated 22 December 2011 from the Born Free Foundation and the Captive Animals Protection Society on the resolution of this House on the use of wild animals in circuses.

James Paice: My colleague, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, who is the Minister responsible for this policy area, responded to the joint letter from the Born Free Foundation and the Captive Animals Protection Society on 2 February.

Animal Welfare: Circuses

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what dates planned meetings scheduled between a Minister in her Department with (a) the Born Free Foundation, (b) the Captive Animals Protection Society, (c) the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals and (d) other animal welfare charities or organisations to discuss this House's Resolution on the use of wild animals in circuses have been cancelled by the Minister; for what reasons in each case; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: Lord Taylor of Holbeach was due to meet with animal welfare groups on 14 December to discuss DEFRA's policy on the use of wild animal acts in travelling circuses. Due to other departmental business those meetings had to be postponed. New dates for those meetings have been, or are being, arranged.

Animal Welfare: Circuses

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when (a) she and (b) other Ministers in her Department will next meet animal welfare organisations to discuss the use of wild animals in circuses.

James Paice: Lord Taylor of Holbeach has a long-standing agreement to meet with animal welfare groups to discuss DEFRA's policy on the use of wild animals in circuses. Dates for those meetings have been, or are being, arranged.

Animal Welfare: Circuses

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect of the ban on the use of wild animals in circuses in Greece on progress towards a ban in the UK.

James Paice: We are aware of the ban introduced by the Greek Government, which was only passed on 31 January, on all animals in circuses as well as all animals in other performance and entertainment exhibitions. We will keep the Greek ban, as well as other restrictions and bans introduced by other countries, under consideration when taking forward our policy on wild animal acts in travelling circuses in England.

Birds: Antarctic

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has had discussions with the British Antarctic Survey on the protection of sea birds in the Antarctic region.

Richard Benyon: The UK and its South Atlantic Overseas Territories are signatories to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. This agreement works to protect and conserve albatrosses throughout their global range, including the Antarctic. Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey advise DEFRA officials in relation to this agreement, particularly through participation in the work of its advisory committee.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost of policing badger culls; and how such costs will be funded.

James Paice: The nature and scale of the policing response will depend on specific intelligence available at the time. However, an estimate of police costs has been developed through discussion with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Home Office. This initial estimate suggests a cost in the region of £0.5 million per area per year for the four years when culling would take place in the two pilot areas based on a standard policing operation to maintain public order and safety. DEFRA has confirmed that it will cover the reasonable additional costs of policing this policy, which would not be part of the duties normally expected of the police.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what comparative assessment she has made of the benefits of a pilot badger cull and investing in further research and development.

James Paice: The two badger culling pilots will not impact on DEFRA’s investment in further research and development.
	DEFRA continues to spend a significant amount on a wide-ranging bovine TB research programme (around £6.9 million was spent in 2010-11). This programme is aimed at improving our understanding of the disease, developing novel control tools, refining existing control tools and understanding how to apply them to tackle the disease. As part of this, in July 2011 we announced the investment of a further £20 million over five years in research towards the development of a vaccine against TB in cattle and an oral vaccine for badgers.
	Evidence suggests that without addressing the presence of TB in the badger population, it will not be possible to eradicate TB in cattle, so we need to take action now. Scientific evidence suggests that proactive badger culling, done on a sufficient scale, in a widespread, coordinated and efficient way, and over a sustained period of time, will reduce the incidence of bovine TB in cattle in high incidence areas. The pilots will allow the careful examination of the safety, humaneness and effectiveness of controlled shooting and will inform the Government's decision on whether to roll the policy out more widely.

British Waterways: Canal and River Trust

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the proposed transfer of assets and responsibilities of British Waterways to the Canal and River Trust and the reduced level of funding on regeneration around the Grand Union Canal Leicester Section.

Richard Benyon: British Waterways (BW) will move from being a public corporation to a charitable body, the Canal and River Trust (CRT), in June 2012, subject to parliamentary consent. The Government have reached agreement with the CRT trustees on the long-term funding of the new charity until 2027, amounting to around £800 million. This historic and very substantial settlement demonstrates the Government's commitment to the big society and a sustainable and prosperous future for the inland waterways.
	The funding agreement gives greater certainty to the waterways than ever before, making it easier for CRT to plan future activity.
	Maintenance of the canal network is an operational matter for BW, who prioritise their maintenance spend where it is most needed. Any future decisions on funding for regeneration around the Grand Union Canal Leicester Section will be a matter for CRT.

British Waterways: Canal and River Trust

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking in respect of the transition of the assets and responsibilities of British Waterways to the Canal and River Trust.

Richard Benyon: The statutory functions of British Waterways in England and Wales will be transferred to the Canal and River Trust (CRT) by means of an order made under the Public Bodies Act 2011, subject to parliamentary consent. A separate transfer scheme made under section 23 of the Public Bodies Act will transfer property, assets and liabilities of British Waterways in England and Wales to the CRT. The transfer scheme will be laid before Parliament once the transfer order is made.

Chinese Mitten Crabs

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she has taken to protect waterways from the Chinese mitten crab.

Richard Benyon: The Chinese mitten crab is established in our waters. It migrates to sea to spawn, where its progeny may spread through natural means or through human action in the ballast water of ships and boats.
	There is no known method of controlling the Chinese mitten crab to prevent its natural spread.
	The UK, along with our international partners, aims to minimise the spread of marine invasive species, including Chinese mitten crabs, through the International Maritime Organisation's Ballast Water Convention. The UK will begin the ratification process once it has been proved that technology is available to meet the required water quality standards. The UK is participating in continuing discussions at the International Maritime Organisation's Marine Environment Protection Committee with regards to producing a set of ballast water guidelines on sampling and analysis. These guidelines are nearing completion.

Coastal Areas: Access

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to publish Natural England’s draft proposals on coastal paths.

Richard Benyon: We have approved Natural England’s proposals for a coastal route and associated coastal margin on a 32 km stretch of the English coast at Weymouth between Portland and Lulworth Bay, Dorset. The right of access will be introduced there in time for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sailing events.
	Natural England is also currently working on proposals to implement coastal access in a further five areas around the coast. When proposals for the coastal route have been prepared in each of the five areas, Natural England will start a period of local consultation.

Crayfish

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps have been taken to protect waterways from the American signal crayfish.

Richard Benyon: Currently there are no effective methods available for reducing the scale of the signal crayfish population in England, and DEFRA has commissioned research to identify any feasible techniques. Until effective management tools become available, efforts are mainly focussed on limiting the spread of the species to new habitats and on the conservation of native species, such as by the establishment of refuge sites for white clawed crayfish. DEFRA is also working with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to develop an action plan to better coordinate efforts to manage non-native crayfish and their impacts.
	Furthermore, DEFRA has launched a campaign called "Check, clean, dry" to raise awareness of the risks from aquatic invasive non-native species, such as non-native crayfish, and to promote simple steps that water-users can take to reduce the accidental spread of invasive species through their activities.

Dangerous Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with animal welfare charities on matters relating to dangerous dogs.

James Paice: DEFRA Ministers and officials hold frequent meetings with animal welfare charities on matters relating to dangerous dogs.

Dangerous Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to repeal the dog control measures of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 and the Town Police Clauses Act 1847;

James Paice: I can confirm that, following consultation with the police, these two provisions in early Victorian Acts of Parliament, which between them apply across the country and make it an offence to allow a dog to attack, or put in fear of attack, any person or other animal, will be repealed at the next appropriate legislative opportunity, as more up-to-date legislation exists.

Dangerous Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to update her Department's website to include information on responsible dog ownership.

James Paice: Information and advice on owning a dog is contained in the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs which can be found on the DEFRA website here:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/03/26/code-of-practice-dogs-pb13333/

Dangerous Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on training of magistrates on handling of dog control cases.

James Paice: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), has not had any recent discussions with the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), on training of magistrates on handling dog control cases.

Dangerous Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on antisocial behaviour with dogs.

James Paice: A number of discussions have been held on this subject with the Home Office, involving both Ministers and officials from the respective Government Departments.

Departmental Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many apprentices were employed by each public body for which her Department is responsible between (a) April 2010 and March 2011 and (b) April and December 2011; and how many apprenticeships she expects each public body to sponsor between (i) January and March 2012 and (ii) April 2012 and March 2013;
	(2)  how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to sponsor apprenticeships in each of the public bodies for which her Department is responsible between (a) April 2010 and March 2011, (b) April 2011 and March 2012 and (c) April 2012 and March 2013.

Richard Benyon: The figures for how many apprentices were employed by each executive agency and main non-departmental public body that DEFRA is responsible for are set out in the following tables:
	
		
			 The executive agencies 
			 Name April 2010 to March 2011 April 2011 to December 2011 January to March 2012 April to March 2013 
			 Rural Payments Agency 0 0 0 0 
			 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science 0 2 5 (1)— 
			 Food and Environment Research Agency 2 22 22 20 
			 Veterinary Medicines Directorate 0 0 0 0 
			 Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency 0 0 0 0 
			 (1) Minimum of 6 
		
	
	
		
			 Non-departmental public bodies 
			 Name April 2010 to March 2011 April 2011 to December 2011 January to March 2012 April to March 2013 
			 Environment Agency 1 1 0 (1)— 
			 Natural England (2)— (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Gangmasters Licensing Authority 0 0 0 0 
			 Drinking Water Inspectorate 0 0 0 0 
			 Royal Botanic Gardens Kew 67 67 (3)— 67 
			 Marine Management Organisation 0 0 0 0 
			 Joint Nature Committee 0 0 0 0 
			 (1) The Environment Agency will be reviewing its approach to apprenticeship provision in early 2012 in order to increase the opportunities it provides in future years. (2) Natural England is seeking external funding for an apprenticeship on one of their National Nature Reserves in 2012-13. There are no previous commitments or other current plans. (3) Royal Botanic Gardens Kew runs 67 apprenticeships per annum as a constant. 
		
	
	Funding from the public purse (including salary costs for externally recruited apprentices) that has been allocated to sponsor apprenticeships in each of the public bodies for which DEFRA is responsible for is outlined in the following tables:
	
		
			 The executive agencies 
			 £ 
			 Name April 2010 to March 2011 April 2011 to March 2012 April 2012 to March 2013 
			 Rural Payments Agency 0 0 0 
			 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science 0 95,564 81,372 
			 Food and Environment Research Agency 36,302 154,949 266,984 
			 Veterinary Medicines Directorate 0 0 0 
			 Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Non-departmental public bodies 
			 £ 
			 Name April 2010 to March 2011 April 2011 to March 2012 April 2012 to March 2013 
			 Environment Agency 28,747 23,958 (1)— 
			 Natural England 0 0 (2)— 
			 Gangmasters Licensing Authority 0 0 0 
			 Drinking Water Inspectorate 0 0 0 
			 Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			 Marine Management Organisation 0 0 0 
			 Joint Nature Committee 0 0 0 
			 (1) The Environment Agency will be reviewing its. approach to apprenticeship provision in early 2012 in order to increase the opportunities it provides in future years. (2) Natural England is seeking external funding for an apprenticeship on one of their National Nature Reserves in 2012-13. There are no previous commitments or other current plans. No other NDPB uses money from the public purse for apprenticeships. (3) Royal Botanic Gardens Kew receives funding from a mixture of public and private sources and it hasn't been possible to calculate funding for apprenticeships solely from the public purse.

Departmental Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how much funding her Department allocated to sponsor apprenticeships in her Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and how much such funding she plans to allocate in 2012-13;
	(2)  how many apprentices were employed by her Department between (a) April 2010 and March 2011 and (b) April and December 2011; and how many apprenticeships she plans that her Department will sponsor between (i) January and March 2012 and (ii) April and March 2013.

Richard Benyon: Between April 2010 and March 2011 core DEFRA employed 29 apprentices, all of whom were current employees undertaking an apprenticeship training programme. Core DEFRA allocated £16,146.50 of funding.
	Core DEFRA did not employ any apprentices in the financial year 2011-12, and no funds were allocated.
	Core DEFRA has not yet finalised its plans for apprenticeships for the financial year 2012-13.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by her Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA has not issued and does not intend to issue any contract in 2011-12 requiring the successful organisation to put up a capital bond.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which contracts her Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA has not tendered and does not intend to tender any contract in 2011-12 requiring the successful organisation to put up a capital bond.

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department has agreed any contracts with (a) private hire vehicle and (b) taxi companies since May 2010.

Richard Benyon: From 1 June 2011 core DEFRA has had a contract for private hire vehicles with Enterprise Rent-a-car UK Limited. That superseded a contract with Arval PHH Business Solutions which had been running since 1 June 2006.

Dogs: Breeding

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the number of dogs bred in domestic properties and sold on the internet in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Paice: DEFRA does not hold the information requested.

Dogs: Breeding

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she plans to review the operation of the (a) Breeding of Dogs Act 1973, (b) Breeding of Dogs Act 1991 and (c) Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999.

James Paice: The effectiveness of this legislation will be considered in the light of the outcome of the current review of dog breeding being undertaken by the Dog Advisory Council.

Dogs: Imports

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate has she made of the number of dogs imported to the UK in the last three years; and from which country each such dog came.

James Paice: The following table details the number of dogs imported into the UK in the last three years.
	
		
			 Live dogs imported into the UK 
			  Number 
			 2009 90,331 
			 2010 85,561 
			 2011 87,601 
		
	
	The vast majority of pets entering the UK do so under the Pet Travel Scheme and belong to UK residents returning from trips abroad with their animals.
	We are unable to break the above figures down by country.

Eggs: Origin Marking

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to ensure full traceability of egg products.

James Paice: On inspection, enforcement authorities look for evidence that food business operators are keeping appropriate traceability records as required by European food law. Major retailers, processors, food manufacturers and food service companies have put into place stringent traceability tests to ensure that they do not source eggs or egg products from laying hens kept in conventional cages. We encourage others to join them.

Environment Protection: Fisheries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if she will take steps to increase consumer awareness of the potential environmental repercussions of purchasing Patagonian Toothfish, more commonly known in restaurants as Chilean Sea Bass;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the importance of krill in the Antarctic ecosystem and the potential consequences of overfishing it;
	(3)  what steps her Department has taken to prevent overfishing of (a) krill and (b) Patagonian Toothfish in Antarctic waters.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA continues to seek to raise awareness among consumers of the importance of purchasing fish from sustainably-managed sources. Fishing for krill and Patagonian toothfish in Antarctic waters is carefully overseen by the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which applies stringent conservation measures to ensure that all harvesting is conducted in a precautionary and ecosystem-based manner. This means that fish stocks are subject to careful monitoring and stock assessment, with fishery quotas set according to scientific advice. The UK works closely with CCAMLR to uphold these principles and to promote and enhance the sustainable management of its fisheries, including through the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands toothfish fishery which has achieved the third highest scoring Marine Stewardship Council certification in the world.
	The major threat to sustainability arises from fish caught through illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing operations, which we are tackling through measures such as implementation of the EU's IUU Regulation, which came into force in 2010. As required under this regulation, we now have a stringent system of checking the legality and provenance of all consignments of fish imported into the UK.

Farmers: Westmorland

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of farmers in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency who have diversified into other business areas in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Paice: 164 (18%) of the 901 holdings in the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency had some diversified activity in 2010.
	The EU defines farm diversification as all activities other than farm work that have an economic impact on the holding. These activities must make use of the farm’s resources (such as the land, buildings or machinery) or products. If only the farm’s labour force and no other resources are used for the activity, then this is not classed as being a diversified activity. Agricultural work for other holdings is included. Exclusions are: pure financial investments, commercial activity on the holding which is not linked to any agricultural or horticultural activity (e.g. a hairdresser or insurance company), renting out the land for diverse activities where there is no further involvement in these activities, and letting out of buildings.

Fish: Conservation

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she plans to have with her (a) French, (b) Dutch, (c) German, (d) Belgian and (e) Irish counterpart on measures for the conservation and management of fish stocks applying to all vessels fishing within the 12 nautical miles UK coastal zone.

Richard Benyon: All commercial fish stocks subject to EU quota limits are jointly managed as a shared resource under the common fisheries policy (CFP). These management measures continue to apply under the mutual access arrangements within member states' 6-12 nautical mile coastal zones, and are based on historical fishing patterns. I will continue to support the Commission's proposal to extend the current restrictions on access within the 6-12 nm limits from 2013, without which these restrictions will automatically lapse.
	Through reform of the CFP, the UK will seek to enable individual member states to manage marine resources more effectively through better integration of fisheries management with other marine policies. As part of the ongoing reform debate I will be discussing this issue with fellow Fisheries Ministers, and similarly my officials are having discussions about a more regional approach to fisheries management with other member states, including with France, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland.
	Improved integration of fisheries management with wider marine environment policies will also be supported through our implementation of the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which aims to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in Europe's seas by 2020. The directive puts in place a strong framework for co-ordination between EU member states in taking the necessary measures to achieve GES.
	Our work to identify and develop the UK's Marine Conservation Zones will make a contribution. Where these zones include areas within the 6-12 nm limits, non-discriminatory conservation measures affecting the vessels of other member states can be introduced after consultation with the affected member states and the Commission.

Fishing Vessels

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with her counterpart in Northern Ireland to ensure a co-ordinated UK approach to the European calls for Swedish grid gear to be fitted to prawn trawlers.

Richard Benyon: As the UK Fisheries Minister I discussed the approach to gear selectivity for the prawn (nephrops) fleet with the Northern Irish Fisheries Minister, as part of the UK's negotiations at the December Fisheries Council and more recently at a meeting in Belfast on 6 February. Fisheries policy is a devolved matter and as such devolved Administrations are able to develop and apply their own approach to fisheries management, including the type of gear used. I am, however, keen that our respective fisheries administrations share views and ideas. My officials are in regular contact with their counterparts as gear selectivity and other measures are developed for different fleets to learn from each other's experiences and to ensure the UK's approach is coherent.

Flood Control: Lytham St Annes

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her latest flood risk assessment is for (a) Lytham and (b) St Annes; and whether she plans to improve flood defences in those areas.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency's national assessment of flood risk (NaFRA) data shows the likelihood of flooding across England and Wales. The following table outlines the number of properties at risk from flooding in Lytham and St Annes.
	
		
			  Lytham St. Annes 
			 Significant risk: greater than 1.3% (one in 75) chance in any year 1,489 104 
			 Moderate risk: 1.3% (one in 75) chance or less but greater than 0.5% (one in 200) chance in any year 880 223 
			 Low risk: 0.5% (one in 200) chance of flooding each year or less 1,278 199 
			 Total number of properties at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea 3,647 526 
		
	
	The Environment Agency is currently remodelling the data on flood risk in the area.
	Lytham and St Annes are covered by the Environment Agency's flood warning service. This covers approximately 3,000 properties in this area and provides a warning service to those properties at risk.
	The Joint Blackpool and Fylde Shoreline Strategy, which receives £183,000 of DEFRA funding, is currently nearing completion. This strategy is being jointly led by Fylde borough council and Blackpool borough council, and will provide a comprehensive assessment of the coastal flood risk to the Fylde and Blackpool coastline, including Lytham and St Annes. The strategy will identify any improvements needed to the coastal defences for Lytham and St Annes. The strategy is due to be completed by summer 2012 and will be sent to the Environment Agency for final sign off.

Flood Control: Lytham St Annes

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to improve the drainage channels and pumping facilities to farmland outside Lytham.

Richard Benyon: In July 2011, the Environment Agency replaced the 65-year-old wooden tidal gates at Dock Bridge with new plastic flaps and a new lifting mechanism. It dredged the channel downstream of Dock Bridge and carried out a detailed land survey. The survey results will determine the extent of one-off de-silting activity, planned for 2012-13. This will increase the level of flood protection to the eastern side of Lytham, as well as farmland adjacent to the town. The Environment Agency has identified the optimum water levels for the operation of the pumps in order to maintain the current standard of flood protection to this area.
	The Environment Agency will replace and automate the valve on the upstream side of Dock Bridge in late 2012. The operation of the valves holds back the river flow and enables essential maintenance work to be carried out on the downstream side of the bridge to include repairs to the tidal gate valves and works in the channel.
	The Environment Agency will also review its flood risk management activities in the Main Drain catchment of Lytham. In 2012-13 it will work with the local community to look at the full range of long term options for maintenance in this area.

Food

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the remit is of the work of her Department's Green Food Project.

James Paice: The Green Food Project, a commitment made in the Natural Environment White Paper, is a joint initiative between Government, the food and farming industry, and environmental and consumer organisations. It aims to explore the challenges of increasing food production and enhancing the environment, in England, out to 2050 and consider how any tensions that this challenge raises can be reconciled.
	The report from the project will be published in June 2012.

Food: Apprentices

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had on increasing the number of apprenticeships in the food manufacturing sector.

James Paice: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), has discussed apprenticeships and welcomes the commitment of the food and drink manufacturing sector to support apprenticeships. We also welcome the initiative from the Food and Drink Federation to call on its members to sign up to its Apprenticeship Pledge and double the number of apprenticeships in the sector in England and Scotland by the end of 2012.

Fossil Fuels: Exploration

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will investigate the toxicity levels of chemicals used in fracking.

Richard Benyon: An assessment of the toxicity of those substances that have been used for the hydraulic fracturing for shale gas has been undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Groundwater Daughter Directive. This was done via a UK-wide group involving the UK environment agencies (and the Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Ireland) known as JAGDAG—the Joint Agencies Groundwater Directive Advisory Group. The group oversees interim assessments and gains peer review of the assessments within the UK agencies, before formal determinations are consulted upon and adopted, with amendment where necessary.
	All the chemicals that companies planning tracking operations propose for use will be reviewed for classification into hazardous or non-hazardous. The Environment Agency has reviewed the chemicals proposed by Cuadrilla for the Lancashire exploration and is satisfied that they are classified as non-hazardous under the Groundwater Daughter Directive. They are currently reviewing additional chemicals the company wish to use as tracer agents. Chemicals which have been suggested for use for hydraulic fracturing for coal bed methane exploration will also be subject to the same review should they be formally proposed for use.
	The Environment Agency will not be reviewing all those chemicals that have been used for hydraulic fracturing in the United States but will only review those that are proposed by operators in England and Wales.
	I would also refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) of 20 December 2011, Official Report, column 1107W.

Fossil Fuels: Exploration

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the British Geological Survey on the levels of methane in groundwater prior to hydraulic fracturing taking place.

Richard Benyon: Officers from the Environment Agency are involved in dialogue with the British Geological Survey on issues around hydraulic fracturing, including the levels of methane in groundwater. This includes a British Geological Survey project to measure background levels in groundwater across the country. The Environment Agency is providing data it has relating to background methane levels in groundwater units to the British Geological Survey. In the North West this includes a survey of background methane levels following the Abbeystead gas explosion.

Fossil Fuels: Exploration

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Geological Society on the levels of methane in groundwater prior to hydraulic fracturing taking place.

Richard Benyon: Neither DEFRA officials nor officers from the Environment Agency have held discussions with the Geological Society on this specific question.

Fossil Fuels: Exploration

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) tests her Department has carried out and (b) assessment she has made of the toxicity of the (i) chemicals and (ii) hydraulic fluid used in hydraulic fracturing.

Richard Benyon: The toxicity of the chemicals and of the hydraulic fracturing fluid are closely linked. Hydraulic fracturing fluid used in shale gas exploration in the UK typically comprises water and sand (about 98%) and chemicals (about 2%). The only source of toxicity in the hydraulic fracturing fluid will come from the chemicals used.
	The Environment Agency has assessed the toxicity of the chemicals used, in accordance with the groundwater daughter directive.
	The Environment Agency has monitored the fluids that return to the surface from the borehole after hydraulic fracturing to identify additional constituents which were dissolved or washed into the fluid during its time in the target strata. Details of these analyses are published on the Environment Agency's website. They found that compared to the injected fracking fluid, the returned fluid contained increased levels of minerals dissolved from the rocks, such as chloride, sodium, iron and dissolved metals. It also contained very low levels of naturally occurring radioactive materials:
	http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/134511.aspx
	Furthermore, I would also refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) on 20 December 2011, Official  Report, column 1107W.

Fossil Fuels: Exploration

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what tests her Department has carried out on the level of water contamination resulting from hydraulic fluid used in hydraulic fracturing.

Richard Benyon: The only shale gas well that has been hydraulically fractured in England and Wales is at Preese Hall in Lancashire. The whole site is bunded and lined to contain potential spills; the Environment Agency report that it knows of no spills from hydraulic fracturing fluid and no resulting contamination of surface water or the ground.
	The fluid that returned to the surface after the fracturing (the flowback fluid) was stored on site before being transported to Davyhulme waste water treatment works in Manchester. It was stored in double skin tanks in the bunded and lined area, and the Environment Agency knows of no spills.
	The aquifer at the Preese Hall site lies at 100-500m below the surface and contains saline water. It is isolated from any surface water features and is not suitable as a viable drinking water source. No measurements of its quality have been made. It is separated from the target shale by 600 metres of rock including at least 300 metres of impermeable strata.

Fossil Fuels: Exploration

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the British Geological Survey on the toxicity of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

Richard Benyon: Officers from the Environment Agency are in dialogue with the British Geological Survey on issues around hydraulic fracturing. The toxicity of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing is not an area where the British Geological Survey has a particular remit and so this would not have been raised on a formal basis.

Inland Waterways: Leicester

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to regenerate the areas surrounding the Grand Union Canal Leicester Section.

Richard Benyon: Management and operation of the Grand Union Canal is a matter for British Waterways. British Waterways do not have any specific plans to regenerate the areas surrounding the Grand Union Canal Leicester Section.
	British Waterways will move from being a public corporation to a charitable body, the Canal and River Trust (CRT) in June 2012, subject to parliamentary consent. Any future decisions on funding for regeneration around the Grand Union Canal Leicester Section will be a matter for CRT.

Land: Contamination

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the light of constraints on public funds available to support the remediation of contaminated land where the ‘appropriate persons’ have inadequate resources to cover their liability, for what reason her Department's revised Statutory Guidance omits reference to the ‘Insurance Recovery’ process which enables claims to be made by the owner/polluter against old public liability insurance policies.

Richard Benyon: The option of including reference in the statutory guidance to the application of cost recovery through the pursuit of old public liability insurance policies was considered along with many other suggestions put forward during the process of reviewing the guidance. As this is an option for cost recovery that has not yet been established as effective under the Part 2A Regime in England and Wales, it was decided that it would not be appropriate to include reference to it in a statutory document. Omission from the guidance does not however exclude it as an option for local authorities to consider as part of their protocol for cost recovery from appropriate persons.

Land: Registration

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to publish her response to the consultation on the registration of new town or village greens.

Richard Benyon: A summary of responses to the consultation will be published on the DEFRA website in the coming weeks. It is envisaged that detailed conclusions will be published in the late summer.

Landfill

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  on what date the proposed agreement between her Department and the hospitality and food sector on landfill will come into effect;
	(2)  pursuant to the oral answer of 19 January 2012, Official Report, column 869, on landfill, if she will publish the proposed agreement between her Department and the hospitality and food sector to divert food waste from landfill.

Richard Benyon: We aim to launch the new voluntary agreement with the hospitality and food service sector this spring. This agreement will seek to reduce food and packaging waste and deal with the waste that does arise more sustainably.
	We are currently developing the agreement on the basis of industry responses to a discussion paper that was available for comment between 22 November 2011 and 11 January 2012. A copy of this paper is available at:
	www.wrap.org.uk/hospitality
	The finalised agreement will be published online.

Olympic Games 2012

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many invitations to attend events at the London 2012 Olympics (a) she, (b) other Ministers in her Department and (c) senior officials in her Department have accepted; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: No invitations to attend events at the London 2012 Olympics have been accepted by (a) the Secretary of State, (b) other Ministers in the Department or, (c) any senior officials.

Pets: Breeding

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance her Department provides to local authorities' tenants on running a business to sell pets from council-owned properties.

James Paice: While DEFRA has not issued any guidance to tenants on this matter, guidance issued to social landlords in November 2010 by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills stresses the value of social tenants being able to run businesses from home. While the Government have urged social landlords to agree to reasonable requests from their tenants, there are obviously some instances, for example where the running of the business would have an adverse impact on the neighbourhood, where this would not be practicable.
	In cases where a tenancy agreement does not require the tenant to seek the landlord's permission before starting up a business, a landlord can rely on other clauses in the agreement, eg those dealing with noise and nuisance or damage to the premises, to deal with problem cases.
	Guidance published for social landlords by DCLG in April 2010 on the tools and powers available to them to tackle antisocial behaviour emphasises the importance of including clauses in tenancy agreements to ensure the keeping of pets is properly controlled and enforcement action against nuisance animals and dangerous dogs is facilitated, as well as highlighting good practice.
	Any tenant seeking to start a business from their home should ensure their tenancy agreement allows this and obtain permission from their landlord if required.
	Businesses that sell pets or breed dogs are also likely to require licensing and inspection by the local authority.

Pigs: EU Action

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with her European counterparts on the progress of EU directive 2001/88/EC on the phasing out of sow stalls.

James Paice: The Commission has discussed compliance with the sow stall ban with member states and has sought information on the level of progress to date. This was raised most recently at this month’s meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health. I also raised the forthcoming sow stall ban at my meeting with Commissioner Dalli on 6 February.
	Over the coming months we will continue to discuss progress with the implementation of the sow stall ban with the Commission and our European colleagues.

Rabies

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to announce her proposals on rabies.

James Paice: The Government plan to publish their response to the consultation on the Rabies Control Strategy in the spring.

Rights of Way: Ferndown

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy not to permit the Uddens (Cannonhill) Plantation at Uddens Drive, Ferndown to be converted into a transit site for Travellers.

Richard Benyon: Whether or not the area identified as Uddens (Cannon Hill) Plantation in the Dorset-wide Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocation Joint Development Plan document is suitable to be used for this purpose is a decision for the local authority.

River Forth: Bridges

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the carbon footprint resulting from importing steel from China for the construction of the new Forth Bridge.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA does not hold data on the carbon footprint of the replacement Forth crossing. However, a DEFRA research report published in 2011, focussed on understanding the geographical sources of greenhouse gas emissions associated with UK trade flows. This showed that in 2004 China was the source of around 5% of emissions associated with UK consumption of non-ferrous metals (iron and steel), a total of around 3 kilo tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Ongoing research work will update these figures with more recent data, and provide a high level analysis of the UK national carbon dioxide footprint, covering 131 product groups and all final demand categories on annual basis from 2011 to 2016.

River Medway: Water Abstraction

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effects of excess water abstraction from the River Medway as the result of a drought order on (a) the environment, (b) the local ecosystem, (c) water quality, (d) pollutants and (e) agriculture.

Richard Benyon: Southern Water Services Ltd has not yet applied for a drought order. The Environment Agency is aware that it is considering applying for a drought permit to take additional water from the River Medway.
	Initial assessment of the likely impact of such a permit is included in the Southern Water Services Ltd drought plan.
	An application for a drought permit or order will be accompanied by an environmental assessment which will be scrutinised by the Environment Agency. This assessment will consider the impact on the environment and any other abstractions, for example agriculture.

River Medway: Water Abstraction

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what arrangements her Department has put in place to minimise the effect of excess water abstraction from the River Medway as the result of a drought order on (a) the environment, (b) the local ecosystem, (c) water quality, (d) pollutants and (e) agriculture.

Richard Benyon: Southern Water Services Ltd has not yet applied for a drought order. The Environment Agency is aware that it is considering applying for a drought permit to take additional water from the River Medway. As no permit or order has been issued there are currently no arrangements in place.

Scallops

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what meetings (a) she and (b) Ministers in her Department had with the European Commission on the Western Waters Scallop Effort in (A) 2009, (B) 2010, (C) 2011 and (D) 2012 to date; what was discussed at each meeting; and whether the conditions for seeking (i) a reallocation of effort from Area VI to VII and (ii) increasing effort in Area VII were raised at each meeting.

Richard Benyon: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), and I meet with the European Commission regularly. Fisheries management issues form part of those discussions as necessary.

Stray Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of stray dogs returned to their legal owners in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Paice: Figures taken from our impact assessment on microchipping indicates that some 57,000 dogs were returned to their owners in the United Kingdom in 2010-11. This figure is based on the 2011 Stray Dogs Survey carried out by the Dogs Trust.

Waste Management

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what technologies she is using to reduce the amount of landfill waste produced by households and business; and what funding she has allocated for the research and development of future technologies.

Richard Benyon: The Government's Review of Waste Policy in England, published in June 2011, sets out our ambition to move towards a zero waste economy, in which resources are re-used, recycled or recovered wherever possible, and landfill is the last resort. The landfill tax remains a key driver to divert waste from landfill, and we will maintain landfill tax increases to £80 a tonne in 2014-15.
	There are a number of waste management technologies available to local authorities to help reduce waste being sent to landfill, including materials recycling facilities, energy from waste facilities and pre-treatment facilities which remove recyclates and reduce the total volume of residual waste and/or its biogenic content. Other technologies include anaerobic digestion and composting.
	The Government are technology neutral and are focused on outcomes rather than supporting particular types of technologies. DEFRA does not specifically fund research and development of future technologies but in future the Green Investment Bank may support new or currently unproven technologies in waste management, for example energy from waste facilities that will contribute towards the UK's renewable energy targets (as well as reduce waste to landfill). DEFRA funds the Waste and Resources Action Programme which provides advice and support to businesses, local authorities, civil society organisations and consumers on the better use of resources with a view to reducing the amount of waste generated.
	DEFRA established the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme in 2006 to help local authorities accelerate the building of the infrastructure needed to treat residual waste without compromising efforts to minimise waste and support increasing recycling levels.

Water Supply: Singleton

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions her Department has had with United Utilities on the proposed water treatment facility at Singleton; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency holds quarterly meetings with United Utilities to discuss the delivery of wastewater improvements required by the National Environment Programme for 2010-15.
	At a meeting in December 2011, United Utilities informed the Environment Agency of the steps it is taking to prepare the planning application in order to deliver the improvements at Poulton, near Singleton.

Water Supply: South East

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what preparations the Government has made for domestic water supply during the Olympics in (a) the south-east and (b) Kent.

Richard Benyon: Water companies have published their water resource management plans that set out the way they will manage water supply over future years. These plans include consideration of any additional demands from new buildings constructed for the Olympics.
	Thames Water has worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to assess water demands during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The ODA expect the demand in London to be no greater than a “normal” summer period as it is estimated that approximately 25% of London's population will be away during this period.
	The demand for water from the Olympic sites will also be reduced by the use of non-potable sources for irrigation and cleaning. In addition to a mains supply from Thames Water, there are two non-potable sources of supply to the main Olympic site. Rainwater harvesting will capture rainwater from roofs and car parks and there is also a ‘blackwater’ treatment plant that produces non-potable water from sewage.
	The Environment Agency and the water companies of the south-east are also considering the potential impact of drought through their respective drought plans.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Antisocial Behaviour

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police authorities she proposes will participate in the pilot scheme of her anti-social behaviour community trigger.

James Brokenshire: We are working with a number of leading Community Safety Partnerships on plans for testing the community trigger. We will announce details of the pilots shortly, as part of the Government's formal response to the Home Office's consultation on reforming the powers available to the police and other professionals to tackle antisocial behaviour.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to publish the outcome of her Department's consultation on anti-social behaviour orders.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has received over one thousand written responses to the consultation from the police and other front line professionals, members of the judiciary, local authorities, interest groups and members of the public. We want to ensure that our proposals reflect that wealth of knowledge and expertise, and will publish our response to the consultation shortly.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Rossendale

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued to residents of the criminal justice areas covering Rossendale and Darwen constituency in each year since 2002.

James Brokenshire: Rossendale and Darwen is in the Lancashire Criminal Justice System (CJS) data. The numbers of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued at all courts in the Lancashire CJS area in each year between 2002 and 2010, (the latest year for which date are currently available) is shown in the table.
	The majority of these ASBOs will have been issued to people resident in Lancashire, although it is possible for a court in Lancashire to issue an ASBO to someone resident in a neighbouring CJS area. The centrally collected data does not identify the area in which ASBO recipients reside.
	
		
			 Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued at all courts (1)  the Lancashire Criminal Justice System (CJS) area as reported to the Ministry of Justice (2)  by the Court Service, 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2010 
			  CJS area—Lancashire 
			 2002 14 
			 2003 54 
			 2004 126 
			 2005 148 
			 2006 115 
			 2007 102 
			 2008 53 
			 2009 47 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 71 
			 (1) Includes ASBOs issued on application by magistrates courts acting in their civil capacity and county courts, which became available on 1 April 1999 and ASBOs made following conviction for a relevant criminal offence at the Crown Court and at magistrates courts (acting in their criminal capacity), which became available on 2 December 2002. (2) Prior to the creation of the Ministry of Justice on 9 May 2007, numbers of ASBOs issued were reported to Home Office by the Court. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Prepared by Justice Statistics Analytical Services.

Asylum

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department has made in clearing outstanding legacy asylum cases.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency (UKBA) committed to review all older unresolved cases by summer 2011. A total of 500,500 cases were reviewed as part of the programme. As Jonathan Sedgwick, then acting chief executive of the UK Border Agency, reported to the Home Affairs Committee on 12 September 2012, 479,000 of the 500,500 cases in the legacy programme have been fully concluded.
	23,000 remaining cases were fully reviewed but, due to various barriers, could not be brought to a final conclusion. UKBA established the Case Assurance and Audit Unit (CAAU) to remove such barriers and bring the remaining cases to a final conclusion. Rob Whiteman reported to the HASC on 22 December 2011 that the number of live cases had now reduced to 17,000. CAAU will continue to monitor these cases and resolve them as barriers are lifted.
	CAAU is also responsible for the active monitoring of 98,000 controlled archive cases and, as Rob Whiteman reported to the HASC on 22 December 2011, this has now reduced to 93,000.

Asylum: Applications

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unresolved asylum claims had been awaiting determination for more than two years on the latest date for which figures are available.

Damian Green: The number of unresolved New Asylum Model claims that have been outstanding for more than two years as of June 2011 is 20,500. This figure is taken from the HM Government website at:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/further-key-data/
	The number of open asylum cases also known as the asylum ‘Work in Progress’ caseload (WiP) was published on the website in August 2011.
	It should be noted that all cases over 60 months old are not included in the above figure as they belong to the Case Assurance and Audit Unit (CAAU). There are 93,000 cases in the controlled archive.
	The CAAU figures were reported to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 20 December 2011 by Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UK Border Agency.
	All figures quoted are management information which has been subject to internal quality checks. The numbers may differ from figures released as National Statistics in the Home Office Immigration Statistics as they are drawn from different snapshots of the UK Border Agency databases.

Asylum: Appeals

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the highest number of appeals an asylum seeker has made before being (a) deported and (b) granted leave to remain.

Damian Green: This information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost through the examination of individual case files. However, a person applying for asylum is only able to appeal once against a decision. They are able to challenge our decision by appealing to the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal of the Courts and Tribunals Service, and thereafter to the Upper Tribunal and onward to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. The onward right of appeal is with permission of the relevant Court or Tribunal, and lies only on the ground that the previous Court or Tribunal made a material error in law.

Asylum: Deportation

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many family groups of unsuccessful asylum seekers which include children have been ordered to be removed from the UK since 1 May 2011; and in how many of these cases removal has been enforced.

Damian Green: This information is not held in a format compatible with National Statistics protocols. However statistics regarding the new family returns process are scheduled for publication in the performance section of the Border Agency website on 23 February 2012. The statistics will cover the period June 2010 to December 2011.

British Nationality: Syria

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of (a) senior members of the Syrian administration and (b) prominent supporters of the Syrian regime who hold joint UK and Syrian citizenship.

Damian Green: Those senior members and prominent supporters of the Syrian regime who are subject to EU travel bans have been checked against Home Office databases. None has been identified as holding British citizenship.

Crime Prevention: Chemicals

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department has any plans to authorise the use of chemical agents with actions other than eye and respiratory irritation for law enforcement purposes.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office has no plans to widen the use of chemical agents.

Crime: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2012, Official Report, column 154W, on crime: Scotland, what plans she has to meet the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in the Scottish Government to discuss serious and organised crime.

Nick Herbert: Home Office Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Criminal Investigation: EU Action

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many joint investigation teams have been established in accordance with Article 13 of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the member states of the European Union and Council Framework Decision 2002/465/JHA across the EU in each year since 2003;
	(2)  how many joint investigation teams have been established in accordance with Article 13 of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the member states of the European Union and Council Framework Decision 2002/465/JHA have operated in the UK in each year since 2003;
	(3)  how many joint investigation teams have been established in accordance with Article 13 of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the member states of the European Union and Council Framework Decision 2002/465/JHA operating (a) in the UK and (b) in EU member states other than the UK were (i) initiated at the request of UK authorities and (B) led by UK officials in each year since 2003;
	(4)  what forms of criminal activity have been the reason for establishing joint investigation teams in accordance with Article 13 of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the member states of the European Union and Council Framework Decision 2002/465/JHA in the UK in each year since 2003.

Damian Green: The data requested is not centrally held. However, from information provided by Eurojust, which supports the establishment and operation of EU joint investigation teams, at least 53 joint investigation teams were in operation in European Union member states in 2011 (33 from support/assistance requested from Eurojust, eight from notifications to Eurojust, 12 from previous years). The UK has been involved in 14 joint investigation teams since 2009.
	Joint investigation teams have proved a valuable means of enhancing practical cooperation between EU member states in addressing cross border crime.
	The most frequent types of criminal activity addressed by these joint investigation teams spanning the period October 2010 to October 2011 are: drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings, illegal immigration, fraud, money laundering, vehicle crime and cybercrime.

Dangerous Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of operation of the dog control measures contained within the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 and the Town Police Clauses Act 1847.

James Paice: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	I can confirm that, following consultation with the police, these two provisions in early Victorian Acts of Parliament, which between them apply across the country and make it an offence to allow a dog to attack, or put in fear of attack, any person or other animal, will be repealed at the next appropriate legislative opportunity, as more up-to-date legislation exists.

Databases: Telecommunications

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals for the Intercept Modernisation programme.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The Interception Modernisation programme was a programme set up under the previous Government which has been superseded by the policies of the coalition Government. As we made clear in the strategic defence and security review the Government will continue to work to preserve the ability of the law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies to obtain communications data and to intercept communications within an appropriate legal framework. Through the Communications Capabilities Development programme we will ensure this is compatible with the Government's approach to civil liberties. As set out in the Home Office's Structural Reform Plan, details of this legislation will be announced in Parliament in due course.

Departmental Air Travel

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what occasions she has taken flights within the UK on official business since August 2010; what class of travel she used; and who accompanied her on each such flight.

Damian Green: Since August 2010, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), has flown domestically on official business on two occasions.
	Both flights were business class and on each she was accompanied by one Private Secretary.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by her Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: The Home Office and its executive agencies have not let any contracts in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to put up a capital bond.
	The Department is currently tendering for two contracts for the accommodation and transport of asylum seekers in Wales and London and South of England which require a capital bond. As these two contracts are at the preferred supplier stage and still to be issued, it is not possible to calculate the proportion of the total value at this stage.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which contracts her Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: The Home Office and its executive agencies have not let any contracts in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to put up capital bonds of more than £5 million.
	The Department is currently tendering for two contracts for the accommodation and transport of asylum seekers in Wales and London and south of England which require a capital bond of less than £5 million.
	Contracts over £10,000 awarded by the Department are published on the Contracts Finder website under the Transparency agenda.

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS, on cost of ministerial cars, whether her Department has any other arrangements for ministerial travel; and how much her Department has spent on (a) private hire vehicles and (b) taxis for each Minister since May 2010.

Damian Green: The Home Office has arrangements in place for ministerial travel with the Government Car and Dispatch Agency (GCDA).
	Ministers in the Home Office do not use private hire vehicles.
	The total spend on taxis for ministerial use since May 2010 is £42.20. The table shows the costs broken down by Minister.
	Some Ministers' security arrangements can include transport. However, for security reasons we do not confirm who is in receipt of protection or provide a breakdown of the costs.
	
		
			 Minister Cost (£) 
			 Home Secretary 0 
			 Damian Green 16.60 
			 Lynne Featherstone 19.60 
			 Nick Herbert 0 
			 James Brokenshire 0 
			 Lord Henley 6.00 
			 Total 42.20

Deportation

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  with reference to the 18th Report from the Home Affairs Committee, Rules governing enforced removals from the UK, HC 563, what steps she has taken to issue guidance to UK Border Agency staff involved in enforced removal on the use of head-down restraint positions;
	(2)  what steps she is taking to ensure that required checks and procedures are used by UK Border Agency staff and contractors involved in enforced removals;
	(3)  what procedures she has put in place to ensure that control and restraint procedures developed by HM Prison Service and used by the UK Border Agency when carrying out an enforced removal are appropriate to its needs.

Damian Green: It has been the practice of successive Governments to use private security companies to undertake escorting of immigration detainees. These services are currently provided by Reliance Secure Task Management. The UK Border Agency has a team of eight contract monitors who monitor and report on Reliance's performance. Members of the Independent Monitoring Board regularly report to the contract monitors and the Chief Inspector of Prisons also carries out announced and unannounced inspections.
	The UK Border Agency's operating standards for escorts includes one about the use of restraint. The standards are available on the UK Border Agency's website at:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/managingourborders/immigrationremovalcentres/
	In order to exercise any use of restraint, detainee custody officers and escorts must be certified by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, a condition of which is that they have undergone training of techniques approved by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The techniques and procedures are contained in NOMS' Control and Restraint manual. Officers are well aware that the use of any technique which pushes the head down and therefore could impede breathing is prohibited and may lead to disciplinary action, including dismissal.
	Officers involved in enforced removals are required to annually complete refresher training in the use of control and restraint. The instructors are themselves trained and annually accredited by instructors from NOMS, whose staff also conduct quality assurance checks on the standard of the training delivered.
	Restraint is only ever used as a last resort to prevent a person from harming themselves, others or property or to ensure he or she complies with a reasonable requirement, including one to leave the UK. Its use must be justified and proportionate, and reported to the relevant UK Border Agency contract monitor. DCOs are required to complete a report of any use of restraint which sets out why a person was restrained and what occurred during the incident, including attempts to de-escalate the situation. The report should also reference the role of others in the team. Such reports are reviewed by a senior manager and are then passed to the UK Border Agency for review. It is open to either party to commission an investigation if there are questions as to whether the use of force or restraint was justified.
	In 2011 the UK Border Agency formally requested that NOMS' National Tactical Response Group conduct a review of the current restraint techniques being used by escorts including those used during overseas removals. Officials will carefully consider any recommendations arising from that review.

Deportation

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will review the number of escorts used on flights containing detainees being forcibly removed; and if she will take steps to ensure that escort to detainee ratios are proportionate.

Damian Green: The escorting service provider carries out a risk assessment of every enforced removal and will allocate an appropriate number of escorts. The UK Border Agency further reviews every risk assessment and removal to assess whether the number of escorts allocated is proportionate. The UK Border Agency will adjust the number of escorts where appropriate.

Deportation

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals were removed from the UK in 2011.

Theresa May: holding answer 6 February 2012
	Data for October 2011 onwards are not yet available, but will be published within Immigration Statistics: October-December 2011 as part of the regular Home Office publication scheme on 23 February 2012. The requested figure will be available from Table rv.01.
	Published data show that between January and September 2011, a total of 38,865 people were removed or departed voluntarily from the UK.
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK within Immigration Statistics. The information provided has been published, in the Immigration Statistics: July-September 2011 release, table rv.01.q, which is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Science, Research and Statistics web pages at:
	http://homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Detention Centres

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of each immigration removal centre in the UK was for each of the last five years; what estimate she has made of the running costs for each of the next five years; and what service-level agreements are in place for the operation of each such centre.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency has 10 immigration removal centres, seven of which are operated by private sector suppliers under contract, and three by the National Offender Management Service under a service level agreement.
	The operating cost for each privately-operated immigration removal centre is commercially confidential and public disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests of the UK Border Agency and its suppliers. Budgets are set according to anticipated expenditure set out in each of the contracts or the service level agreement.
	However, details of detention and removal costs can be found in the UK Border Agency's annual report and accounts.

Detention Centres: Children

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children were held in detention for immigration purposes in (a) Harmondsworth, (b) Tinsley Wood and (c) Cedars immigration removal and pre-departure accommodation centres on (i) 24, (ii) 25 and (iii) 26 December 2011.

Damian Green: The requested information is not published. The Home Office only publishes details on the total number of children who entered detention in each calendar month and quarterly figures showing the number of children held in detention on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December each year.
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people in detention, held solely under Immigration Act powers. The next publication: Immigration Statistics October to December 2011 will be available on 23 February 2012 from the Library of the House and the Home Office Science, research and statistics web pages at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Email

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to encourage the use of e-mail in preference to printed correspondence for communications between her Department and hon. Members.

Damian Green: Replies to correspondence are sent to Members of Parliament (MPs) in the format which they prefer. The Home Office actively promotes the use of dedicated email addresses which MPs can use as an alternative method of communication.

Entry Clearances: Foreign Workers

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many intracompany transfers were granted to each of the three companies with the largest number of such grants in the last year for which figures are available; how many such grants were made to each of those companies in each year since the inception of the scheme; and how many such applications were (a) approvals of new applications, (b) extensions or amendments of an existing permit and (c) applications in which the individual had moved to another job with a different employer;
	(2)  when she expects to reply to Question 89796 on intracompany transfers, tabled on 12 January 2012 for answer on 16 January 2012.

Damian Green: holding answers 16 January 2012 and 9 February 2012
	The work permit intra company transfer scheme closed in 2008 and was replaced by the Tier 2 (intra company transfer) category of the points based system.
	The information requested is not available in the format required and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Foreign Nationals: Childbirth

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) number and (b) proportion of births was where one or both parents were foreign-born in (i) London and (ii) each London borough within Greater London in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on what the (a) number and (b) proportion of births was where one or both parents were foreign-born in (i) London and (ii) each London Borough within Greater London in the most recent year for which figures are available (94680).
	Figures for live births where one or both parents are non-UK born have been compiled from birth registration data. The table below shows the number and proportion of live births in 2010 in the areas requested, according to registration data. Information on country of birth of parents is provided by the informant at registration.
	
		
			 Number and proportion of live births in London, where one or both parents are non-UK born, 2010 
			 Area of usual residence of mother Number of births where one or both parents are foreign born Proportion of births where one or both parents are foreign -born 
			 London 86,111 64.7 
			    
			 Inner London 38,224 70.0 
			 Camden 2,135 69.8 
			 Hackney plus City of London 3,227 69.0 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 1,819 65.6 
			 Haringey 3,242 72.8 
			 Islington 1,757 59.5 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 1,757 79.1 
			 Lambeth 3,221 65.3 
			 Lewisham 3,067 61.6 
			 Newham 5,266 84.1 
			 Southwark 3,498 68.2 
			 Tower Hamlets 3,571 78.2 
			 Wandsworth 3,179 57.3 
			 Westminster 2,485 81.2 
			    
			 Outer London 47,887 61.0 
		
	
	
		
			 Barking and Dagenham 2,414 64.7 
			 Barnet 3,559 64.2 
			 Bexley 1,009 33.7 
			 Brent 4,294 81.9 
			 Bromley 1,355 33.3 
			 Croydon 3,081 55.7 
			 Ealing 4,526 77.2 
			 Enfield 3,414 66.7 
			 Greenwich 2,850 61.0 
			 Harrow 2,640 75.4 
			 Havering 687 24.4 
			 Hillingdon 2,487 59.3 
			 Hounslow 3,121 70.4 
			 Kingston upon Thames 1,139 49.3 
			 Merton 2,268 64.4 
			 Redbridge 3,101 69.5 
			 Richmond upon Thames 1,385 46.3 
			 Sutton 1,066 39.9 
			 Waltham Forest 3,491 72.4

Foreign Nationals: Prisoners

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners are assessed as a threat to national security; and when they are planned to be returned to their country of origin.

Damian Green: This information is not collected in the format requested and could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.

Human Trafficking

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to tackle human trafficking.

Damian Green: The Government are implementing their human trafficking strategy, published on 19 July 2011. This focuses on: improving identification and care of victims; enhancing our ability to act early; smarter action at the border; and more coordination of our law enforcement efforts in the UK.
	The Home Office is also legislating, where appropriate, to implement the EU directive on trafficking in human beings to ensure compliance by April 2013.

Identity Cards: Shipping

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with (a) ministerial colleagues and (b) officials in her Department on International Labour Organisation Convention 185 on seafarers’ identity documents; what recent steps she has taken toward ratifying this convention; and when she expects the UK to ratify this convention. [R]

Damian Green: There have been no recent discussions with ministerial colleagues on International Labour Organisation Convention 185 (ILO 185) on seafarers’ identity documents, however, discussions are continuing between officials in the UK Border Agency, the Department for Transport and the Identity and Passport Service. The Government are concerned that the ILO 185, whose purpose is to facilitate the international movement of seafarers, does not meet International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards for biometric data held on identity documents. The ILO 185 standards are incompatible with any existing standard used within the UK for identification documents. The costs, which would either have to be met by the seafarer or the taxpayer, of procuring new equipment to produce and read a relatively small number of documents would be prohibitive.
	Discussions are taking place at international level to address the technical issues and I await a satisfactory resolution before discussing ratification of the convention with ministerial colleagues.

Illegal Immigrants: Fines

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what fines were collected from employers in 2010 for employing illegal immigrants; what proportion of the amount so collected was made available for expenditure by her Department; and whether there is a maximum annual limit for revenues raised from such fines for illegal working that may be made available to her Department.

Damian Green: In the financial year 2010-11, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) collected £6.91 million in illegal working civil penalties from those employers who were found to be employing illegal workers.
	The UKBA annual report and accounts 2010-11 records that the UKBA retained £6.91 million of civil penalty income in order to increase investment in additional enforcement and collection activity. This was agreed with HM Treasury for that financial year. The annual report did not reflect that the departmental expenditure limit was reduced by £3 million to off set this agreement. The retained value for the financial year 2011-12 is capped at £3 million.

Immigration Controls

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the cost of introducing electronic border gates systems to UK airports.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency has spent just over £9 million to date on the introduction of ePassport gates.

Immigration Controls

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the cost of the Iris recognition immigration system at UK airports since its inception.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency has spent £4.9 million on the Iris recognition immigration system (IRIS) capital costs and running costs total £4.2 million from 2005 to April 2011.

Khalid Tantouch

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  whether there is an outstanding charge against Khalid Tantouch for conspiracy to plant bombs in Greater Manchester on 11 March 1984; and whether that charge is still on file;
	(2)  what steps she is taking to pursue the case against Khalid Tantouch.

James Brokenshire: It is a long held Government policy not to comment on individual cases or operational matters. The investigation of alleged criminals is a matter for the police who will work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to determine whether a case should be brought to prosecution.

Knives: Crime

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many knife-point robberies occurred in (a) Dartford constituency, (b) Kent and (c) the South East in each of the last three years.

Nick Herbert: Data for selected offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument are collected by the Home Office at police force area level only, so data are not available for Dartford constituency. Data are provided in Table A for Kent police force area and the South East region.
	The South East region covers: Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley police force areas. Surrey and Sussex police include unbroken bottle and glass offences in their data, which are outside the scope of this collection. However, it is known that robbery offences are rarely committed with such a weapon.
	
		
			 Table A: Number of robbery offences involving knives or sharp instruments recorded by the police, last three years to September 2011 
			  Number of robbery offences involving a knife or sharp instrument 
			  Year ending September 
			 Area 2009 2010 2011 
			 Kent police force 148 122 131 
			 South East region(1) 1,008 896 889 
			 (1) Surrey and Sussex police include unbroken bottle and glass offences in their returns, which are outside the scope of this special collection.

Mobile Phones

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many (a) BlackBerrys, (b) personal data assistants and (c) other mobile devices the Mobile Information Programme has distributed to each police force in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09, (iii) 2009-10, (iv) 2010-11 and (v) 2011-12 to date; and how many such devices are in use in each police force;
	(2)  how many (a) BlackBerrys, (b) personal data assistants and (c) other mobile devices have been purchased for the Mobile Information Programme in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09, (iii) 2009-10, (iv) 2010-11 and (v) 2011-12 to date; and what the cost was of providing such devices.

Nick Herbert: A breakdown of the type of devices per force, per year, delivered through the Mobile Information Programme (MIP) is not available centrally and neither is information on the number of devices currently in use.
	The MIP ran until December 2010. It did not distribute or purchase devices; it allocated £80 million to forces in two phases: phase 1 on 26 May 2008 and phase 2 on 29 December 2008. When the programme closed, forces reported that over 41,000 additional mobile devices had been operationally deployed.
	The requirement on forces to report additional devices obtained through the programme funding was removed when the programme closed.

Organised Crime: West Midlands

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding the Government has allocated to deal with gangs in each West Midlands local authority area.

James Brokenshire: The Government have identified 22 local authority areas to receive support and investment as part of the Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme. Three of these are in the West Midlands (Birmingham, Sandwell and Wolverhampton).
	Between them they will receive a total of £1,839,489. Details of these allocations can be found at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/provisional-funding-allocations?view=Binary
	This is in addition to £950,000 for West Midlands Police under the Communities Against Gangs, Guns and Knives Programme, announced by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), in February 2011; and £559,834 awarded to voluntary and community sector projects within the West Midlands under the Communities Against Gangs, Guns and Knives Fund.

Passports: Older People

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of individuals over 65-years-old who do not have either a passport or a drivers licence.

Damian Green: The Home Office does not hold information about the number of individuals over 65-years-old who hold neither a passport or a driving licence. However, research conducted in July 2010 by the Identity and Passport Service estimated that 75% of people over 65-years-old held a valid UK passport, an additional 16% had applied for one in the past and 6% had never applied for one. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency driver database currently shows that 6,649,485 individuals aged 65 or over hold a valid driving licence. No estimates have been made of the number of such individuals who do not have a licence.

Passports: Republic of Ireland

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people applied for UK passports from a primary residence in the Irish Republic in the last three years.

Damian Green: Between 2009 and 2011 the Passport Section at the British embassy in Dublin issued 27,361 passports.
	Applicants applying from within the Irish Republic must apply to the British embassy in Dublin.

Petrol: Theft

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences relating to the theft of petrol have been recorded in the last five years for which figures are available in the (a) UK and (b) west midlands.

Nick Herbert: The information requested is not available at this level of detail from the Home Office recorded crime statistics.

Police Community Support Officers: South Yorkshire

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police community support officers were employed by (a) South Yorkshire Police and (b) its partners in (i) Doncaster and (ii) South Yorkshire in (A) 2008-09, (B) 2009-10, (C) 2010-11 and (D) 2011-12.

Nick Herbert: The latest available data show the number of police community support officers employed in Doncaster Basic Command Unit and South Yorkshire police force area as at 31 March 2009, 31 March 2010 and 31 March 2011 (full-time equivalents).
	
		
			 Police community support officer strength in Doncaster and South Yorkshire, as at 31 March 2009, 2010 and 2011 (1) 
			 As at 31 March  each year Doncaster South Yorkshire 
			 2009 74 328 
			 2010 74 328 
			 2011 72 311 
			 (1) These figures are based on full-time equivalents that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Figures include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.

Police: Council Housing

Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what steps she is taking to support collaboration between police forces and local authorities in conducting checks on prospective council tenants;
	(2)  whether she has had discussions with the Information Commissioner on the decision that police forces should not provide pre-tenancy checks for local authorities.

Nick Herbert: The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), has taken no such decision, nor has she had any discussions with the Information Commissioners on this issue. The day-to-day management of police forces, use of resources, policies and deployment of staff are operational matters and the responsibility of the chief officer.

Police: Court Orders

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many production orders were issued by (a) Bedfordshire police and (b) Cambridgeshire police in each of the last five years.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many production orders have been issued by (a) City of London police, (b) the Metropolitan Police Service, (c) Hampshire Constabulary, (d) Kent police and (e) Surrey police in each of the last five years.

Nick Herbert: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Police: Information and Communications Technology

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made as part of her review of police ICT of the cost of exiting any existing police ICT contracts.

Nick Herbert: These are matters for police forces and authorities.

Police: Olympic Games 2012

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much (a) North Yorkshire police, (b) police forces in Yorkshire and the Humber, (c) the Metropolitan and City of London police and (d) police forces in England have set aside in their budgets to cover the cost of policing the London 2012 Olympics.

Nick Herbert: While the Home Office provides the majority of Government funding to the police, decisions on how this is spent are made locally by police authorities or police and crime commissioners and their chief constables. As such, the amount that has been set aside by individual police forces in England and Wales to cover the cost of policing the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is entirely a local decision. We do not collect or hold this information centrally.

Police: Vehicles

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance her Department has provided to police forces on the purchase of cars built in the UK as part of their (a) general fleet and (b) patrol cars; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 7 February 2012
	Advice provided by the Home Office to police forces on the purchase of cars built in the UK as part of their (a) general fleet and (b) patrol cars, reflects EU regulations which prevent organisations from conducting procurement exercises focusing on suppliers based in a single country.

Prescriptions

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 October 2011, Official Report, column 817W, on prescriptions, for what reasons the statutory instrument relating to the prescribing powers of non-medical prescribers has not yet been laid before the House; and when she expects it to be laid.

James Brokenshire: This Government are committed to enabling the NHS to deliver services more flexibly and efficiently. At the time of my previous response the Department was on track to lay the legislative instrument on independent prescribers by the end of October. Since then we have had to revise the timetable for laying the legislative instrument in the light of other continuing and competing work.
	The statutory instrument is currently being finalised for consideration by Ministers and we intend to lay the legislative instrument in Parliament as soon as possible.

Production Orders: North East

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many production orders have been issued by Cleveland police in each of the last five years.

Nick Herbert: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 January 2012, Official Report, column 403W.

Production Orders: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many production orders have been issued by (a) Dyfed Powys police, (b) Gwent police, (c) North Wales POLICE and (d) South Wales police in each of the last five years.

Nick Herbert: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 January 2012, Official Report, column 403W.

Prostitution

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many brothel visits or raids were made by units, other than Serious Crime Division 9, in the Metropolitan Police Service in each London borough in financial year (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and what the equivalent figure is for 2011-12 to date;
	(2)  how many brothels were closed down by units, other than Serious Crime Division 9, in the Metropolitan Police Service in each London borough in financial year (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and what the equivalent figure is for 2011-12 to date.

Lynne Featherstone: This information is not held centrally.
	Keeping a brothel used for prostitution is a serious offence that can often be associated with exploitation; we would expect the police and Crown Prosecution Service to investigate and prosecute where necessary.

Theft: Metals

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department has made in tackling theft of drain covers from roads in (a) Redditch and (b) the west midlands.

James Brokenshire: This Government take the growing problem of metal theft very seriously, and have set out a comprehensive approach to the problem, including legislation to raise the penalties for rogue dealers and ban cash payments for scrap metal, and targeting criminals through a £5 million national metal theft taskforce. However, the Home Office does not hold data at the level of detail required to provide specific trend information on the theft of drain covers, either in Redditch or the west midlands.

UK Border Agency

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she has taken to 
	(1)  prevent the use of racist, homophobic or derogatory language by UK Border Agency staff or their contractors;
	(2)  ensure that UK Border Agency staff monitoring enforced removal flights are able to ensure that the behaviour of contracted workers is appropriate.

Damian Green: We expect the highest standards from our staff and contractors and will take appropriate robust action against those who fail to adhere to them.
	The UK Border Agency has a team of eight contract monitors who monitor and report on the performance of the escorting service provider. In addition all service provider vehicles have CCTV fitted with audio capability. Members of the Independent Monitoring Board regularly report to the contract monitors and the Chief Inspector of Prisons also carries out announced and unannounced inspections.
	While the UK Border Agency has introduced a professional code of conduct for all those staff working with detainees, Reliance, the current escorting service provider, has introduced a training programme of cultural change for all escorting staff. It has also introduced a freephone number to enable staff to report colleagues whose behaviour causes concern.
	The Home Office Equality and Diversity strategy outlines the legal obligations and responsibilities on the Department as an employer and contractor of services to prevent discrimination or harassment. All Home Office staff are required to undertake a mandatory equality and diversity e-learning programme. In addition face to face equality and diversity workshops are also delivered to staff and managers across the Home Office group.
	The learning programmes highlight that inappropriate language and behaviour should and will be challenged, and where proven will result in disciplinary action and penalties including dismissal.

UK Border Agency: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the UK Border Agency plans to reply to the letter of 10 January 2012 from the hon. Member for Walsall North, ref: S1153849.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency replied to the hon. Member on 9 February 2012.

Written Questions: Government Responses

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to reply to Question 89795 on intracompany transfers, tabled on 11 January 2012 for answer on 16 January 2012.

Damian Green: holding answer 9 February 2012
	I refer my right hon. Friend to my answer of 9 February 2012, Official Report, column 352W.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not required a capital bond to be put up by a successful organisation in relation to any centrally let contract issued or due to be issued in 2011-12.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not required a capital bond to be put up by a successful organisation in relation to any centrally let contract issued or to be issued in 2011-12.
	Details of the contracts that have been awarded (without such a bond) are available through the departmental website at
	www.dfid.gov.uk

Developing Countries: Disease Control

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2011, Official Report, column 635W, on developing countries: disease control, when he expects to launch the open competition for research funding.

Alan Duncan: We anticipate that the UK Government will launch the competition for research into the development of new technologies for prevention, treatment and diagnostics for diseases of poverty including malaria, neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS, before the end of March 2012. Details will be posted on the DFID website at:
	www.dfid.gov.uk

EU External Trade: Forests

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the EU plans to enter negotiations with (a) Brazil, (b) Ethiopia, (c) India, (d) Mexico, (e) Mozambique, (f) Peru, (g) Tanzania and (h) Zambia to agree a Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade voluntary partnership.

Stephen O'Brien: The EU will enter into negotiations of a Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) voluntary partnership agreement at the request of a forest nation after it has reached some consensus among its domestic stakeholders.
	I understand that the EU currently has no plans to enter into such agreements with Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique or Zambia as they have yet to express a formal interest to the EU in this.
	The EU and the UK have had contacts with Brazil, India and Peru to discuss this. Peru has expressed little interest in entering a voluntary partnership agreement through the EU. Brazil has expressed interest in sharing its own experience and approach with other countries but has stated that it does not wish to negotiate a FLEGT voluntary partnership agreement: India and Mexico have expressed interest in learning more about the FLEGT initiative but discussions are at an early stage.

Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he expects to announce the funding to be allocated to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for the period from 2011 to 2013.

Andrew Mitchell: The Global Fund has saved over 7.7 million lives in 150 countries over the last 10 years. 3.3 million people are receiving antiretroviral treatment, 8.6 million cases of TB have been detected and treated, and over 230 million insecticide-treated nets distributed. This is why the UK has a long standing commitment of £1 billion up to 2015—£128 million a year from 2011 to 2013.
	We stand ready to make a new commitment, above and beyond our existing pledge subject to reforms. Working with new and existing donors in 2012, I intend to announce at a time which raises the most amount of money for the Fund.

Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what criteria he plans to apply when deciding the funding to allocate to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for the period from 2011 to 2013.

Andrew Mitchell: The Global Fund has developed a “Consolidated Transformation Plan” which brings together existing reforms and the recommendations of a recent High Level Panel Report. These time-bound reforms are intended to ensure that the Fund improves its performance and better meets the needs of poor people affected by the three diseases.
	The UK's readiness to increase its funding to the Global Fund is dependent on the extent to which it is able to take forward these reforms and deliver on the recommendations of the Panel's Report in implementing its strategy.

India

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of UK aid in reducing (a) malaria, (b) tuberculosis, (c) HIV/AIDS and (d) illiteracy in the state of Gujarat in India; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Mitchell: Gujarat is not one of the focus states of the Government's aid programme in India and we are therefore not directly supporting any programmes on each of these issues with UK aid in Gujarat.

Lesotho: Overseas Aid

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department has given to Lesotho in each of the last 10 years.

Stephen O'Brien: The following table shows the level of the total Department for International Development (DFID) bilateral programme to Lesotho over the 10 years from 2001-02 to 2010-11.
	
		
			  Total DFID bilateral programme (£000) 
			 2001-02 2,718 
			 2002-03 2,848 
			 2003-04 3,318 
			 2004-05 3,522 
			 2005-06 4,319 
			 2006-07 6,752 
			 2007-08 3,896 
			 2008-09 6,209 
			 2009-10 5,075 
			 2010-11 2,935

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many officials in his Department are stationed in the Maldives.

Alan Duncan: None.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department has given to the Maldives in each of the last 10 years.

Alan Duncan: Through the Department for International Development's (DFID) bilateral aid programme the Maldives has received the following aid from the UK over the last decade:
	
		
			  Total DFID bilateral programme (£) 
			 2001-02 82,580 
			 2002-03 195,271 
			 2003-04 199,068 
			 2004-05 807,557 
			 2005-06 405,221 
			 2006-07 0 
			 2007-08 0 
			 2008-09 0 
			 2009-10 150,000 
			 2010-11 0 
		
	
	DFID no longer has a bilateral aid programme in the Maldives, and there are no plans to initiate one. The spend in 2009-10 was support for the Maldives hosting the first ‘Climate Vulnerable Forum’ in October 2009. The forum was a gathering of world leaders from countries that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he has any plans to visit the Maldives.

Andrew Mitchell: No.

Sahel

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with which donors the Government has had discussions to ensure that funding is available for an early response to mitigate the emergency in the Sahel; what the outcome was of those discussions; and which donors apart from the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office he expects to take a lead on the Sahel emergency.

Andrew Mitchell: Officials from my Department have been monitoring the situation closely and have been regularly liaising with their opposite numbers in other Governments, including the French, and with officials from the Red Cross, the United Nations and leading non-governmental organisations.
	UK officials attended the European Council Working Group on Humanitarian Aid and Food Aid meeting in Brussels this month. They discussed the situation in the Sahel with representatives from all 27 member states of the EU, plus representatives from UN organisations, non-governmental organisations working in the Sahel region area and other non-EU donors. Officials are in the process of following up these discussions with donors on an individual basis.
	It is too early in the immediate response phase of the emergency to speculate on which donors will take the lead, however large donors including the US, Germany and France have the potential to play a key role. Having been at the forefront of the response in the Horn of Africa, the UK is looking to others to share the burden and provide leadership.
	However I announced last month some specific targeted support to assist.

Somalia: Health Services

Sam Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the Government has any plans to provide the African Union Mission in Somalia with a level 1 field hospital in Mogadishu.

Andrew Mitchell: There are no plans for the Government to contribute to a Level 1 field hospital in Mogadishu. The UK has contributed towards the running of the Level II hospital.

Somalia: Overseas Aid

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many of his Department's officials are stationed in Somalia.

Andrew Mitchell: No staff working for the Department for International Development (DFID) on Somalia are currently posted in Somalia. DFID officials travel to Somalia when required, in line with the Government's duty of care to them.
	On 11 May 2011, Official Report, columns 1165-68, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), announced to Parliament that the UK would reopen its embassy in Mogadishu as soon as local conditions permit. This month the UK appointed its first ambassador to Somalia for 21 years.

Visits Abroad

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what countries (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have visited in an official capacity since May 2010.

Andrew Mitchell: Details of all Ministers overseas visits are available on the Department for International Development website:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/about-us/our-organisation/ministers
	and are published every quarter in the normal way.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Embassies

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost is of operating British embassies in each EU member state in the most recent period for which figures are available.

William Hague: The most recent figures available are for financial year 2010-11.
	The cost of operating British embassies (expenditure by sovereign posts net of income) in each EU member state in financial year 2010-11 is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 Country Net cost of operating British embassies in financial year 2010-11 (£) 
			 Austria 5,536,850 
			 Belgium 6,852,180 
			 Bulgaria 2,821,056 
			 Cyprus 3,694,351 
			 Czech Republic 3,759,738 
			 Denmark 4,478,932 
			 Estonia 1,893,222 
			 Finland 3,893,935 
			 France 10,404,191 
			 Germany 15,349,515 
			 Greece 6,258,742 
			 Hungary 4,341,064 
			 Ireland 2,250,186 
			 Italy (1)- 1,343,060 
			 Latvia 1,473,947 
			 Lithuania 1,473,947 
			 Luxembourg 1,363,758 
			 Malta 2,284,531 
			 The Netherlands 4,679,516 
			 Poland 6,545,204 
			 Portugal 3,862,976 
			 Romania 3,376,536 
			 Slovakia 1,709,361 
			 Slovenia 1,582,282 
			 Spain 11,831,763 
			 Sweden 4,473,475 
			 United Kingdom n/a 
			 (1 )The negative figure showing for the British embassy in Italy is due to income from other Government Departments and impairment (property revaluation) costs. 
		
	
	These figures show net expenditure by British embassies in costly European capitals. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) network of posts plays a critical role in maintaining important bilateral relationships, helping to push the UK's prosperity agenda and providing consular support to British nationals overseas.
	Net expenditure varies significantly from post to post, including between embassies of similar size. This is due to a range of factors including income received, for example for consular services, the value of the FCO's locally owned estate and other country-specific factors such as local staff salary levels and employers' social security contributions, rental costs, and utility prices.

Abu Qatada

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times officials in his Department have met (a) officials from the Government of Jordan and (b) the Jordanian ambassador or his representatives to discuss the case of Abu-Qatada since June 2010.

Alistair Burt: The British ambassador to Jordan and other Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have had continuous dialogue with Jordanian Ministers and officials to discuss Qatada's case, both before and after the 17 January ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

Abu Qatada

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times the UK ambassador to Jordan has met officials of the Government of Jordan to discuss the case of Abu-Qatada since June 2010.

Alistair Burt: The British ambassador to Jordan and other Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have had continuous dialogue with Jordanian Ministers and officials to discuss Qatada's case, both before and after the 17 January ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

Atlantic Ocean: Fisheries

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government conducts satellite surveillance of (a) Tristan da Cunha, (b) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, (c) Bermuda and (d) Pitcairn Island territorial waters to determine the number of vessels fishing illegally in the exclusive fishing zone.

Henry Bellingham: Fisheries management within Overseas Territory territorial waters is a devolved responsibility. Overseas Territory Governments employ a range of methods to monitor and deter vessels fishing illegally within their territorial waters and support has been provided by the British Government to assist with this and help to ensure that their marine resources are managed sustainably.

Bangladesh

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications for security in the UK of links between Bangladeshi citizens in the UK and those responsible for the attempted military coup in Bangladesh.

Alistair Burt: On 19 January, the Bangladesh Army announced an ongoing investigation into a small number of individuals suspected of involvement in an attempted coup plot. The British high commission in Dhaka is following developments closely. Should the investigation identify any link between those responsible and Bangladeshi citizens in the UK, the British Government will take appropriate action in line with national security interests and relevant legal and policy commitments.

British Indian Ocean Territory

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to what extent the administration of British Indian Ocean Territory (a) based at his Department in London and (b) in Diego Garcia is subject to the provisions of (i) the Freedom of Information Act 2000, (ii) the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and (iii) other freedom of information legislation.

David Lidington: The Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act and the Environmental Information Regulations do not extend to the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Burma

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which UK companies have approached the Government to express an interest in investing in or trading with Burma.

Jeremy Browne: We are aware that a number of UK companies are interested in investing in or trading with Burma. For reasons of commercial confidence, it would not be appropriate to comment on the nature of any contact we have had with UK businesses, or to name those companies with whom we have had contact.
	However, our policy remains that the British Government do not encourage trade and investment in Burma and offers no commercial services to companies wishing to trade or invest there.

Caribbean: EU

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the statement of 25 January 2012, Official Report, column 17WS, on Brazil and the Caribbean (Foreign Secretary visit), what plans his Department has to support the Caribbean in its relationship with the European Union.

Jeremy Browne: The UK is a strong supporter of the EU-Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and we encourage both the Caribbean and the EU to take full advantage of the benefits of the agreement. Discussions on the EPA were an important element of the UK-Caribbean Ministerial Forum in Grenada where UK and Caribbean Ministers agreed to work together to improve EU market access for Caribbean export of goods and services. The UK and Caribbean also agreed to work with the EU to maximise the impact of development funding to the region. The UK has a regular dialogue with the EU External Action Service both in the Caribbean and in Brussels to ensure that EU decisions take into account the particular circumstances of the Caribbean. The European External Action Service participated in the UK-Caribbean Ministerial Forum.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the (a) food and (b) drink served to guests to his Department on official occasions is sourced from UK farmers, fisheries and food and drink manufacturers.

Henry Bellingham: The information for (a) and (b) is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department (a) has a policy or (b) provides guidance on the sourcing of (i) food and (ii) drink from UK farms, fisheries and food and drink manufacturers served to guests on official occasions.

Henry Bellingham: Government Hospitality in Protocol Directorate arranges business hospitality for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and all other Government Departments for official occasions, as required. Government Hospitality offers guidance to its catering suppliers that food and drink should, where practicable, and without increasing costs to the taxpayer, source sustainable, seasonal UK produce, in accordance with EU procurement rules and the coalition agreement on procuring food to UK or equivalent production standards.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not required any successful suppliers to put up a capital bond and does not intend to require this for current planned central procurements.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not required any successful suppliers to put up a capital bond and does not intend to require this for current planned central procurements, as such no central contracts awarded have required the supplier to put up a capital bond.

Economic and Monetary Union

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the ability of the Government to initiate legal proceedings against other EU member states in (a) the European Court of Justice and (b) other courts if they exceed the remit of the fiscal compact treaty.

David Lidington: Although political agreement was reached among the 25 EU member states who intend to participate in the proposed fiscal compact treaty, the treaty has yet to be signed and ratified by the member states concerned and therefore is not yet in force.
	The Government consider that, once in force, the treaty or actions taken under it must not conflict with the EU treaties. This includes the use of the EU institutions. We have been clear that the treaty must not undermine the operation of the single market or otherwise infringe on areas of policy that are properly for discussion by all member states in the EU context, and we have reserved our position on the proposed treaty. If following the entry into force of the treaty the participating member states were to act in a manner prejudicial to the operation of the single market or the operation of the EU treaties, the Government would consider all possible avenues of action available.

Economic and Monetary Union

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's policy is on the use of the (a) European Commission, (b) the Court of Justice of the European Union and (c) other European Union institutions in connection with the proposed treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; whether the UK has made an objection to any party concerning use of such institutions; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The Government have a number of concerns regarding the use of the EU institutions in the inter-governmental treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance in the Economic and Monetary Union.
	However, the Government want the eurozone to do what is necessary to solve the crisis as long as it does not damage the UK's national interest. The Government are, therefore, reserving their position on the use of the EU institutions in the new agreement. The proposed agreement must not encroach on the competencies of the EU, or undermine the operation of the single market. The Government will be monitoring this closely and will take action if the UK's national interests are threatened.

Hungary

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the extent of freedom of the media in Hungary.

David Lidington: We believe it is essential that any legislation that may have an impact on the media should comply with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) principles and commitments in the field of freedom of expression, free flow of information and freedom of the media; Council of Europe standards emanating from article 10 of the European convention on human rights; and all relevant European Union policies and legislation.
	Following expert level talks between Hungarian media law experts and European Commission officials, the Commission suggested four amendments to bring the media law into line with EU norms. The UK supported the Commission's findings, which were then addressed by the Hungarian Government. The amended legislation was overwhelmingly passed by the Hungarian Parliament.

Hungary

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Hungarian counterparts on freedom of the media in that country.

David Lidington: I have discussed the media law with my Hungarian counterpart Eniko Gyori. Membership of the EU places obligations on member states to respect the highest standards with regard to fundamental freedoms and democracy. The UK Government place great importance on these obligations and considers freedom of the press and opinion as one of the key pillars of a democratic society.

Hungary

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the outcome was of the London International Cyber Conference of November 2011; and what steps his Department is taking to assist the Hungarian government to prepare for the Budapest Conference later this year.

Alistair Burt: The London Conference on Cyberspace set the agenda for future international dialogue on building a secure, resilient and trusted global digital environment. It was attended by more than 700 people from over 60 countries. Many thousands more watched online and followed it through social media. For the first time we brought together discussions on the benefits of cyberspace as well as the threats and started a high-level international process to maintain this balanced approach. The conclusions of the conference are set out in the closing statement made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) which is available from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. We have started discussions with Hungary about the follow-up conference in Budapest and will keep in close touch with them over the coming year.

Iran

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2012, Official Report, columns 928-29W, on Iran: mass media, whether the issue of media disruption by the Iranian authorities was discussed during the International Telecommunications Union World Radiocommunication Conference 2012; what role the Government played in any such discussions; and what recent progress has been made on ending such actions.

Alistair Burt: The issue of jamming of satellite broadcasts was discussed in depth at the International Telecommunications Union World Radiocommunications Conference 2012. The UK, represented by the Office of Communications (OfCom), played an important role in obtaining an amendment to the Radio Regulations which will make it incumbent on states to take action against any jamming emanating from their territory.

Iran: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterparts in Russia and China on tightening the sanctions regime in Iran; and on how many separate occasions he has raised this issue with them in the last six months.

William Hague: The E3+3 group—made up of the UK, US, France, Germany, Russia and China—supports a dual track policy of pressure on and engagement with Iran and discusses these issues regularly. My officials and I have had a wide range of discussions with E3+3 members about increasing peaceful pressure on Iran. Most recently, I have spoken publicly about the importance of China not increasing its oil imports from Iran, so that the EU oil embargo achieves the impact we are seeking and encourages Iran to resume serious negotiations on the nuclear issue.

Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the case of Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa who has been on hunger strike for 50 days in Ramlah military hospital; and if he will make representations on this matter to the Israeli Government.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of the case of Mr Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa. On 31 January 2012 Mr Musa was transferred to Mayanei HaYeshua Medical Centre in central Israel after 45 days on hunger strike. On 16 February, he had sustained his hunger strike for 61 days.
	Our embassy in Tel Aviv discussed Mr Musa's condition with the Israeli Prison Service again on Friday 10 February 2012, urging them to comply with their obligations under international law. We have also raised the case with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Israeli authorities claim that he is receiving medical attention from the NGO Physicians for Human Rights and from ICRC.
	Our officials have discussed the issue with the ICRC. They are closely involved and report that Khader Adnan's condition is critical, but that he remains conscious, has access to medical treatment and is receiving family visitors.

Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise the case of Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa with his counterparts in the EU and request them to make representations on this matter to the Israeli Government.

Alistair Burt: The Head of the EU Delegation in Tel Aviv carried out a demarche to the Israeli authorities on this issue on 15 February 2012. On 16 February our ambassador to Tel Aviv raised our concerns with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has discussed the matter with other EU Heads of Mission. We have also discussed this issue with other EU member states and in Brussels. Together with our EU partners, we continue to monitor the situation closely and are considering what further action can be taken.

Journalism

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of journalists recently killed abroad.

Jeremy Browne: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) monitors existing independent reporting on journalists killed abroad, including from Reporters Without Borders, which has said that four journalists have been killed so far in 2012.
	This Government are deeply concerned about the safety of journalists. Reporting from our embassies and high commissions overseas shows that journalists, bloggers and others continue to be obstructed from doing their work by being harassed, monitored, detained, or subjected to violence, and we strongly condemn such attacks. The FCO highlights the dangers facing journalists worldwide in its annual report on human rights.

Libya: Human Rights

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to monitor the situation in Libya in regard to (a) the reports of secret detention centres and (b) the use of torture against people not linked to the National Transitional Council.

Alistair Burt: UK Ministers have regularly raised concerns over the treatment of detainees since the liberation of Libya. Immediately following the reports of mistreatment and torture in Misrata, I raised our serious concerns with the Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister. Last week the Prime Minister, the hon. Member for Taunton Deane (Mr Browne) and I reiterated these concerns to the Libyan Interior Minister. Our ambassador in Tripoli has also raised the matter with members of the Libyan Transitional Government.
	The Libyan Deputy Prime Minister announced on 31 January that all allegations of mistreatment will be investigated and that officials from the Ministries of Justice and Interior would visit detention centres and begin the process of bringing all detention facilities under central control. The NTC have stated that they will fully co-operate with the UN Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry and have offered it full access.
	The UK has already provided training to Libyan judges and legal professionals and will be providing further support, including on prison reform. The UK will continue to follow closely the actions taken by the Transitional Government, providing support and assistance where appropriate, to help the Libyans live up to their human rights commitments.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consular assistance his Department is giving to British citizens in the Maldives in light of the recent civil unrest in that country.

Alistair Burt: In light of the recent developments, we changed our travel advice to reflect the situation on the ground: it now states that we advise only against all but essential travel to Malé Island—which has been the focus of unrest in the Maldives. We have received no reports of the disturbances affecting tourists, tourist resorts or other islands, and the airport, located on a separate island to Malé, is operating normally. The vast majority of British nationals are on holiday or working in the tourist islands. The level of consular support was, nevertheless, increased through the deployment of a UK-based member of staff and support from the wider regional network to Malé in order to assist those who work or reside there. In addition, consular officers met with tour operators and staff were stationed at the airport. All inquiries were followed up and we are not aware of any outstanding consular cases of concern. We continue to monitor developments and will consider further measures to assist our nationals if necessary. The full range of consular assistance to British nationals in the Maldives is available to those who need it by contacting the British high commission in Colombo, which has responsibility for the provision of the consular service in that country.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the UK's relationship with the Maldives; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: As the Prime Minister said on 8 February, the UK enjoys strong links with Maldives and we have a strong interest in the well-being of the large number of British nationals who visit each year. The British Government have been concerned by recent developments in Maldives and has been in direct contact with the major parties to urge calm and restraint. We have called on the new leadership to establish its legitimacy, including through an independent review of the circumstances that led to the transfer of power. We are in close contact with commonwealth partners.
	The UK is a strong supporter of Maldives' democratic reform process and it is vital that this is preserved.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many officials in his Department are stationed in the Maldives.

Alistair Burt: There is no British diplomatic mission in Maldives. There is an honorary consul in Malé who handles any urgent consular issues on behalf of our high commission in Colombo, which has formal responsibility for Maldives.
	Following the resignation on 7 February of President Nasheed, a team, led by the British high commissioner, was deployed to Maldives that evening. This included an officer from the political team and a number of consular officers. Exact consular deployment has varied, with up to four consular officers in Maldives for a period of time.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he plans to visit the Maldives.

Alistair Burt: There are currently no plans for a ministerial visit to the Maldives.
	I most recently attended the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit held in Maldives on 9-10 November 2011.
	Our high commissioner in Colombo was deployed to Maldives following the resignation of President Nasheed on 7 February and remained there until 12 February.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Maldives.

Alistair Burt: Since the resignation of President Nasheed on 7 February I have spoken to both him and President Waheed on a number of occasions. I most recently spoke to President Waheed on 9 February and to former President Nasheed on 10 February. My consistent message to all parties has been the need for calm and restraint.

Maldives

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British nationals have requested consular support in the Maldives in the last month.

Alistair Burt: Between 13 January and 13 February 2012, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided consular assistance or advice in relation to 21 British nationals in the Maldives. This was either as a result of direct approaches by those nationals, or contact made with them following concerns raised by family and friends with consular staff in London or at our high commission in Sri Lanka, which holds responsibility for assistance in the Maldives.

Maldives

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the safety of the former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed and the Maldivian Democratic Party.

Alistair Burt: As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), said to the House on 9 February we are concerned about events in Maldives, in particular reports of attacks on members and supporters of the Maldivian Democratic Party.
	I have spoken to former President Nasheed on a number of occasions, most recently on 10 February when he confirmed he was safe. I have also spoken a number of times to President Waheed, most recently on 9 February. I have called for calm and restraint from both sides and expressed concern to President Waheed about ensuring the safety and security of Nasheed and his supporters. Our high commissioner has also raised the matter with the Police Commissioner and Maldivian Defence Ministry.

Maldives

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the security situation in the Maldives does not deteriorate following the resignation of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Alistair Burt: The British Government are concerned about recent developments in Maldives. A team, led by the British high commissioner, has been active on the ground, talking to all sides. I have spoken to former President Nasheed and President Waheed on a number of occasions. The UK has consistently urged calm and restraint on all sides.

Maldives

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the political situation in the Maldives; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), said to the House on 9 February 2012, Official Report, column 509, we are concerned about events in Maldives. It is for the new leadership to establish its legitimacy with its own people and with the international community with an independent review of the circumstances leading to the transfer of power. We are in close contact with Commonwealth partners.
	We call on the new leadership to demonstrate its respect for the rights of all political parties and their members, and to ensure that the constitution is upheld. The UK is a strong supporter of Maldives' democratic reform process and it is vital that this is preserved.

Maldives

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken in response to the political situation in the Maldives; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), said to the House on 9 February 2012, Official Report, column 509, we are concerned about events in Maldives.
	We deployed a team to Maldives, led by the UK high commissioner. They have been talking to all parties. I have also spoken with former President Nasheed and with President Waheed on a number of occasions.
	It is for the new leadership to establish its legitimacy with its own people and with the international community with an independent review of the circumstances leading to the transfer of power. We call on the new leadership to demonstrate its respect for the rights of all political parties and their members, and to ensure that the constitution is upheld. The UK is a strong supporter of Maldives’ democratic reform process and it is vital that this is preserved.

Maldives

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) the EU, (b) the Commonwealth, (c) the US, (d) the UN, (e) the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation and (f) other countries on the political situation in the Maldives.

Alistair Burt: Ministers and officials have held a number of discussions with international partners, including EU institutions and member states, the Commonwealth Secretary-General and members of the Commonwealth Secretariat and Commonwealth Member States, the US, the UN and India, which is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation. An EU Heads of Mission delegation visited Maldives from 13-15 February and a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group Fact Finding Mission visited on 17 February.

Middle East: Cybercrime

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on cyber-attacks in the Middle East.

Alistair Burt: I am aware of recent media reporting of tit-for-tat cyber attacks in the Middle East and will continue to monitor the situation.
	The low cost and largely anonymous nature of cyberspace makes it an attractive domain for those who seek to use it for malicious purposes. The UK is therefore working to promote dialogue between all those with a stake in cyberspace, including governments, the private sector and civil society, on the principles that should govern behaviour in this domain and to improve international co-operation to combat cybercrime.

Serbia: Human Rights

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of respect for human rights in the case of Nick Djivanovic in prison in Serbia.

David Lidington: The UK does not normally offer consular assistance to UK dual nationals detained in the country of their other nationality. In the case of Mr Djivanovic, we were made aware of specific concerns regarding his welfare and therefore consular staff from our embassy in Belgrade visited him in prison. Mr Djivanovic did not raise any allegations of mistreatment and consular staff established that he was not being treated any differently to other prisoners.

Somalia

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he raised the deaths of Somali journalists (a) Abdisalan Sheik Hassan, (b) Farah Hasan Sahel, (c) Noramfaizul Mohd Nor and (d) Abdiaziz Ahmed Aden with the Somalian President during his recent visit to that country.

Henry Bellingham: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised the recent killing of Hassan Osman Abdi ‘Fantastic’ with the President of the Transitional Federal Government, Sheikh Sharif, on his recent visit to Mogadishu. He also impressed upon the President the need for an independent inquiry into Hassan’s death and the importance of media freedoms in building democracy in Somalia. Somalia remains the most dangerous country in the world for journalists to operate in. Officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Office for Somalia are actively looking at ways in which we can support journalists in Somalia.

Somalia

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he met representatives from the National Union of Somali Journalists during his recent visit to that country.

Henry Bellingham: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), did not have a chance to meet with officials from the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) during his recent visit to Mogadishu. However, the Foreign Secretary did raise the issue of media freedoms with the President of the Transitional Federal Government, Sheikh Sharif. Somalia remains the most dangerous country in the world for journalists to operate in. Officials from the British Office for Somalia in Nairobi meet frequently with the NUSOJ and are actively looking at ways in which we can support journalists in Somalia.

Somalia

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has sought assurances from the Kenyan Government that it will meet its legal obligation in respect of the rights of Somalis to seek asylum and to respect the principle of non-refoulement.

Henry Bellingham: We have repeatedly urged the Kenyan authorities to continue accepting refugees from Somalia and not to forcibly return Somali refugees. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) lobbied his Kenyan counterpart during his visit to Nairobi of 3 February not to precipitously return refugees.

Somalia

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps (a) he and (b) his international counterparts are taking to ensure that (i) civilians are protected from air strikes and military actions in Somalia and (ii) Kenyan and African Union troops, the Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopia are accountable for their actions.

Henry Bellingham: We have repeatedly urged the Ethiopian and Kenyan authorities to ensure that their action in Somalia is undertaken in co-ordination with the Transitional Federal Government, complies with international law, ensures the protection of civilians and does not impede the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
	Britain has consistently encouraged African Union (AU) troops in Mogadishu to show restraint when engaging in military operations. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has taken steps over the last 18 months to reduce civilian casualties. Such measures have included the declaration of “no fire zones” within the city and the Force Commander conducting an internal investigation where AU troops have injured or killed civilians during combat operations.
	International partners are also emphasising the importance of the international laws of armed conflict. It is included in pre-deployment training for AMISOM and in training of Somali troops through the European Union Training Mission.

Somalia: Diplomatic Service

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many officials in his Department are stationed in Somalia.

Henry Bellingham: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not currently have any officials based full-time in Somalia. The British Office for Somalia operates from Nairobi, under the leadership of our new ambassador. Britain is actively seeking to reopen an embassy in Mogadishu as soon as local circumstances permit.

Somalia: Foreign Relations

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to his recent visit to Somalia what assessment he has made of the UK’s bilateral relationship with that country; and if he will make a statement.

Henry Bellingham: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), recent historic visit, the first by a Foreign Secretary in 20 years, gave us the opportunity to engage directly with the President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) ahead of the London conference on Somalia on 23 February. The Foreign Secretary also met the Prime Minister of the TFG in Nairobi on 3 February. He stressed to both the importance we attach to the completion of the political transition this summer, which provides the opportunity to create a broader and more inclusive political process. We hope that the London conference will act as a catalyst for enhanced and sustained international and Somali effort.

Syria: Sanctions

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of whether (a) senior members of the Syrian administration and (b) prominent supporters of the Syrian regime who hold joint UK and Syrian citizenship are using their UK citizenship to evade international sanctions against Syria.

Alistair Burt: We are not aware of any persons holding joint UK and Syrian citizenship who are senior members of the Syrian administration or prominent supporters of it who are using their UK citizenship to evade international sanctions against Syria, but have asked the Home Office to investigate.
	The UK enforces sanctions robustly. EU restrictive measures apply to all EU citizens. As such, in the event that any British national sought to circumvent the EU sanctions they may fall foul of the provisions in the relevant EU regulation which prohibit such circumvention. Dual UK/Syrian nationals cannot therefore use their UK citizenship to evade EU restrictive measures, such as asset freezes.
	With regard to the EU travel ban, where an EU Council Decision requires a member state to prevent a specific individual's entry into, or transit through, its territory, the member state must comply with this obligation in the event that the individual seeks to enter its territory.
	This obligation to enforce a travel ban does not, however, apply where an individual is seeking entry to, or transit through, the member state of which he is a citizen. This is specified in the text of the EU Council Decisions, including those on Syria. For this purpose, where a named individual holds dual citizenship that includes British citizenship, the individual's position in relation to the travel ban and any entry to the UK is the same as if the individual were solely a British citizen. The UK cannot enforce the travel ban. A separate, although related issue, has to do with such an individual's immigration position. British citizens are exempt from immigration control. There are no powers under immigration law to regulate a British citizen's entry into, or departure from, the UK. This is the case whether or not a travel ban is in force.

Turkey: Balkans

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the role of Turkey in promoting regional dialogue and security in the Western Balkans; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: Turkey and the EU share a vital interest in seeing all countries in the Western Balkans move towards EU accession with greater prosperity and stability for the region.
	We welcome the important role that Turkey has played in promoting reconciliation and dialogue in the region, which remain crucial if the countries of the Western Balkans are to move forward, resolve the legacies of conflict, and make progress towards the EU. We also welcome Turkey's active role in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Peace Implementation Council and its role in promoting regional stability through, for example, contributions to the EU-led military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR Althea), to the NATO peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo (KFOR) and to the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX).

Turkey: Serbia

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the political relationship between Serbia and Turkey since the election of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in June 2011.

David Lidington: Turkey and Serbia have a close political relationship, which has recently developed to include a free trade agreement, an agreement on infrastructure co-operation and the mutual abolition of visas. These various agreements were signed prior to June 2011, however, they signal a consistently developing relationship between Turkey and Serbia. The Turkish International Co-operation and Development Agency has also launched activities in Serbia.
	The UK and Turkey share a vital interest in seeing the Western Balkans, including Serbia, move towards EU accession, with greater prosperity and stability for the region.
	We welcome, in particular, the important role that Turkey has played in promoting regional reconciliation, including through initiatives, such as the Istanbul Declaration of April 2010, in which both Turkey and Serbia participate.

USA

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that Richard O'Dwyer receives all necessary assistance after his extradition.

Alistair Burt: It would not be appropriate for me to comment on individual cases. However, in cases where a British national is extradited to the United States of America consular staff will provide the same level of support as they do for other British detainees who meet the criteria for consular assistance.
	Consular staff’s primary role is one of welfare, but full details of the assistance they provide can be found in the publication ‘In Prison in Canada or the USA’, which is available on our website. Examples of the support offered include: consular visits, providing contact details of local lawyers and the UK non-governmental organisation Prisoners Abroad, and helping to transfer money from friends and family to detainees.

Whisky

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department charges Scottish Development International for the holding of receptions in embassies to promote the whisky industry.

David Lidington: Events designed to encourage inward investment to the UK and promoting UK exports overseas are one of the UK Government's main foreign policy priorities and since April 2011 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has implemented a policy of not charging other Government Departments for holding events in its network of nearly 270 posts overseas, with recovery only applied for direct costs incurred by the FCO.
	Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding held with the Scottish Government, it is specified that the FCO will recover costs of services provided in line with its practice for charging UK Government Departments. It is therefore FCO policy not to charge Scottish Development International for holding events in FCO premises overseas unless direct costs are incurred by the FCO.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Returning Officers

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the papers prepared by his Department relating to the transfer of the duties of acting returning officers to senior local government officials.

Mark Harper: The Government will be reviewing the assumptions they use to allocate funds for the various activities which are essential to running national polls. As part of this review, we will look at whether the current level of returning officers’ fees is appropriate, with a view to ensuring that all those responsible for the successful delivery of elections receive appropriate remuneration for their work.

Returning Officers: Pay

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what adjustment is made for the salaries of local government officials in respect of time spent in their employment as returning officers.

Mark Harper: This information is not held centrally. Each local authority is an independent employer in their own right and has the autonomy to make decisions on pay and reward that are appropriate to local circumstances and which deliver value for money for local taxpayers. This includes the award of additional fees for officers for their duties in relation to local elections. We are aware that some authorities have taken the local decision to include such fees within a chief officer’s overall salary, others pay separate fees.
	The Localism Act 2011 introduced provisions to increase the transparency and accountability of local decisions about pay and reward, particularly for senior officers, and requires authorities to publish statements of their policies. The accompanying guidance makes it clear that authorities should declare within their statements any policy to award additional fees for chief officers for their local election duties.

Returning Officers: Pay

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  how much was paid in fees to (a) acting returning officers at general elections and (b) returning officers at local elections in each of the last 10 years;
	(2)  what payments were made to acting returning officers in each parliamentary constituency in respect of the May 2010 general election.

Mark Harper: The maximum recoverable amounts which acting returning officers are entitled to claim for their services and expenses in conducting UK parliamentary elections are set out in statutory orders which are made by the Secretary of State prior to the date of the poll.
	The relevant orders are the Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers' Charges) Order 2010 and the Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers' Charges) Order 2005 which were made respectively for the 2010 and 2005 UK parliamentary elections. These can be found at:
	http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/830/contents/made
	http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/780/contents/made
	The total amount claimed by acting returning officers in England and Wales for the 2005 UK parliamentary election was £1,464.886. The total amount paid to date to acting returning officers for conducting the 2010 UK parliamentary election in England and Wales is £1,671,237. However, as the figures listed in the charges order are maximum recoverable amounts, we will only know the actual total claimed once all claims for this poll have been settled.
	Information on the amounts which returning officers were paid for conducting local elections is not available centrally.

Returning Officers: Qualifications

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what qualifications are necessary for the post of (a) acting returning officer at a general election and (b) returning officer at a local election.

Mark Harper: The acting returning officer at a general election must be an individual who has been appointed by a local authority as an electoral registration officer, under section 8 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. Under section 35 of the same Act, a local authority is required to appoint one of its officers as the returning officer for local elections.
	While the responsibility for appointments rests with local authorities, we would expect a thorough assessment of individual capabilities and experience to take place in reaching decisions.

Returning Officers: Working Hours

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the average hours worked by (a) acting returning officers at general elections and (b) returning officers at local elections.

Mark Harper: No estimate has been made of the average hours which acting returning officers and returning officers work in the lead up to and during UK parliamentary and local elections.
	Returning officers take on additional responsibilities in administering elections and carry out this role over and above the duties of their normal local authority post.

Titles Deprivation Act 1917

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to bring forward proposals to amend or repeal the Titles Deprivation Act 1917.

Mark Harper: The Government have no plans to bring forward proposals to amend or repeal the Titles Deprivation Act 1917.

PRIME MINISTER

10 Downing Street: Official Hospitality

Luciana Berger: To ask the Prime Minister if he will place copies of the menus for each official function held at 10 Downing street since May 2010 in the Library.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 January 2012, Official Report, column 42W, to the hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon).

Business Advisory Group

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Prime Minister what (a) topics were discussed and (b) conclusions were reached at the most recent meeting of his Business Advisory Group.

David Cameron: The Business Advisory Group is a forum for discussion between myself, business leaders and Cabinet Members with economic portfolios. We do not publish agendas or conclusions and the discussions are private. The meetings tend to cover the Government's business priorities and topics of importance including training and trade issues. At the most recent meeting we also discussed remuneration.

Student Loans Company: Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Prime Minister when his attention was drawn to the arrangement by which the Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company was paid.

David Willetts: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	I draw the right hon. Member's attention to the answer given by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), to the urgent question he raised in the House of Commons on 2 February 2012, Official Report, column 1001.

Departmental Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Prime Minister how many away days his Office has held since May 2010; what the location was of each such away day; how many staff attended; and what the cost was of each such event.

Francis Maude: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	Details of events can be found in the following table. In all cases, staff are encouraged to use facilities on the Cabinet Office estate wherever possible, but in some cases it is more beneficial to hold events offsite and away from office distractions. There is a robust approvals process in place which requires sign-off at senior level in the Department's finance team. Expenditure is in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in “Managing Public Money” and the Treasury handbook on “Regularity & Propriety”.
	
		
			 Event Location Number of staff attending Cost (£) 
			 1 Cabinet Office Estate 13 0 
			 2 Cabinet Office Estate 14 102 
			 3 Cabinet Office Estate 30 395 
			 4 Cabinet Office Estate 70 500 
			 5 Cabinet Office Estate 21 105 
			 6 Cabinet Office Estate 16 80 
			 7 Cabinet Office Estate 15 29 
			 8 Cabinet Office Estate 17 555 
			 9 Institute for Government, London 10 386 
			 10 Wallacespace, London 12 1,252 
			 11 Charity and Social Enterprise organisation (Rich Mix) London 70 2,584 
			 12 Somerset House, London 55 470 
			 13 Social enterprise and charity support organisation (CAN Mezzanine) 10 110 
			 14 Somerset House, London 95 472 
			 15 Emmanuel Centre, London 60 2,500 
			 16 English Heritage (Kenwood House, London) 20 480 
			 17 Trafalgar Studios, London 6 0

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Attorney-General whether he is aware of any similar cases to that of the collapsed prosecution of former South Wales police officers where the disappearance and re-emergence of key evidence has led to a retrial.

Edward Garnier: I am not aware of any other similar cases. The features of the prosecution of the former police officers in South Wales were both complex and highly unusual and the reasons that caused the prosecution to end the case were unique to the circumstances of that case.
	In order to conduct a full check of all unsuccessful cases, enquiries would need to be made of all Chief Crown Prosecutors, Heads of Casework Divisions and Heads of Complex Casework Units throughout the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) offices in England and Wales, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by the Law Officers' Departments in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which contracts the Law Officers' Departments have tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Garnier: No contracts issued or to be issued by the Law Officers' Departments in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond.
	It is not possible to provide details of all the tenders and contracts awarded by the Law Officers' Departments without incurring a disproportionate cost, but the majority of contracts involving a value of £10,000 or over are routinely published on the Government's Business Link website in line with Cabinet Office requirements.

Freedom of Information

Tom Brake: To ask the Attorney-General with reference to Decision Notices dated 12 September 2011 (ref. FS50347714) and 13 September 2011 (ref. FS50363603), for what reason he exercised his veto under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 before the matter was considered by the Information Rights Tribunal.

Edward Garnier: A detailed statement of the reasons for the Attorney-General's decision to exercise the veto in relation to these Decision Notices was placed in the Library on 8 February 2012. He considered that disclosure of the requested information would be damaging to the doctrine of collective responsibility and detrimental to the effective operation of Cabinet government, and the balance of public interest favoured withholding the information. He also concluded that this constituted an exceptional case and that the exercise of the veto was warranted in accordance with the statement of Government policy on the use of the veto. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not require the Government to wait for the First-Tier Tribunal to consider the case. Section 53 makes clear that a decision to veto can be taken at any time after the Information Commissioner has issued a decision notice.

Police: Ports

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Attorney-General how many people were prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service following investigations and arrests made by port police forces in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Edward Garnier: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants prosecuted following investigations and arrests made by port police forces. It would not be possible to provide such information locally or nationally without incurring a disproportionate cost.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Apprentices: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) men and (b) women enrolled in apprenticeships in (i) information and communication technology and (ii) engineering and manufacturing technology in (A) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, (B) the London borough of Bexley and (C) Greater London in the latest period for which figures are available.

John Hayes: Table 1 shows the number of Apprenticeship starts by gender in Information and Communication Technology, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies and all Sector Subject Areas in the London region, Bexley local authority and Bexleyheath and Crayford parliamentary constituency, in the 2010/11 academic year, based on provisional data. Data are based on the home postcode of the learner.
	
		
			 Table 1: Apprenticeship starts by gender and sector subject area in Bexleyheath and Crayford parliamentary constituency, Bexley local authority and the London region, 2010/11 (provisional data) 
			  Gender Information and Communication Technology Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies All Apprenticeships 
			 Bexleyheath and Crayford Constituency Female 10 — 350 
			  Male 10 40 270 
			  Total 20 40 620 
			      
			 Bexley Local Authority Female 10 — 960 
		
	
	
		
			  Male 40 100 740 
			  Total 50 110 1,700 
			      
			 London Region Female 870 140 22,480 
			  Male 1,620 2,100 17,930 
			  Total 2,490 2,250 40,410 
			 Notes: 1. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Total figures may not add up due to rounding. 2. Geography information is based upon the home postcode of the learner. 
		
	
	Information on the number of Apprenticeship starts is published in a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 27 October 2011:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statistical firstrelease/sfr_current
	Information on Apprenticeship starts by geographic breakdown, gender and sector subject areas are available in the SFR Supplementary Tables:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statistical firstrelease/sfr_supplementary_tables/Apprenticeship_sfr_supplementary _tables/

Business

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to update Table 2 in Economics Paper number 15 published in December 2011 showing English business clusters.

David Willetts: Table 2 in Economics Paper number 15 was originally produced as part of a one-off piece of analysis to inform Lord Sainsbury's Clusters Policy Steering Group. As such, there are no plans to update this table. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills continually works with and gathers information from industry and sectors to ensure a full picture of key business clusters.
	The Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth, published in December, sets out the Government's actions to support innovation and research. These include tackling barriers to the growth of clusters around our innovation institutions, including through work by Research Councils UK to establish a principles-based framework for treatment and submission of multi-institutional research funding bids. Furthermore, the Government will extend the Launchpad initiative to run up to three further competitions following the success of the Tech City Launchpad in London's Old Street area. Launchpad competitions encourage proposals from small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-companies aimed at developing a product or service. The competitions are designed to strengthen clusters through facilitating cooperation and networking within them.

Business: Closures

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies ceased trading within (a) one year, (b) five years and (c) 10 years of registration since 1997.

Norman Lamb: The number of companies incorporated on or after 1 January 1997 and subsequently dissolved within these timeframes is as follows.
	
		
			  Number 
			 Dissolved within one year 61,495 
			 Dissolved between one and five years 1,954,571 
			 Dissolved between five and 10 years 486,407 
			 Dissolved after more than 10 years 62,489 
		
	
	It is not possible to determine how many of these companies traded before being dissolved except at disproportionate cost.
	Additionally, the number of companies that have filed dormant accounts after filing trading accounts within the specified timeframes since 1997 is as follows.
	
		
			  Number 
			 Within one year 21,361 
			 Between one and five years 70,783 
			 Between five and 10 years 16,139 
			 More than 10 years 200

Business: Regulation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what new regulations affecting businesses have come into effect since May 2010; and what regulations affecting businesses have been removed since May 2010.

Mark Prisk: The Government have published details of domestic regulations affecting business that have come into effect or have been removed between January 2011 and December 2011 in the “One-in, One-out: Statement of New Regulation” (April 2011) and in departmental statements accompanying the “One-in, One-out: Second Statement of New Regulation” (September 2011). These were placed in the Libraries of the House and can be found on the BIS website at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/bre/better-regulation-framework/one-in-one-out/statement
	A list of regulations affecting business that came into affect before 2011 is published on the “Archived Regulation Updates” pages on the Business Link website at:
	http://online.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/ruArchive?paqe=2

Business: Regulation

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Red Tape Challenge on business development for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mark Prisk: Many of the Red Tape Challenge plans announced to date will benefit small and medium-sized businesses. The business impact of these changes will be thoroughly analysed as part of the implementation process. This analysis will be validated by the independent Regulatory Policy Committee.

Copyright: Economic Growth

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the estimate in the Hargreaves Review that the Digital Copyright Exchange could contribute £2.2 billion to GDP.

Norman Lamb: The Government have made no further assessments beyond those set in Annex EE to the Hargreaves Review. It has commissioned Richard Hooper to carry out a feasibility study which will examine the wider benefits of a Digital Copyright Exchange in greater detail and report back to Government before the summer recess.

Copyright: Higher Education

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions the Intellectual Property Office has had with higher education institutions on licensing of audio-visual works for education.

Norman Lamb: As part of its consultation the Government have had discussions with a range of bodies who represent educational institutions in the higher education institutions (HEI) sector. These discussions have covered all aspects of the copyright consultation, including the licensing of audio-visual works for education.

Credit: Insurance

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on ensuring that insurance policies for rent-to-own credit agreements make it clear to customers that the faulty or stolen item will not be replaced if a claim is made under the policy.

Mark Hoban: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	The responsibility for regulating insurance companies lies with the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA requires all insurers to explain the scope of the cover for all types of insurance policies.
	This includes a requirement that firms
	“take reasonable steps to ensure a customer is given appropriate information about a policy in good time and in a comprehensible form so that the customer can make an informed decision about the arrangements proposed.”

Departmental Air Travel

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which countries officials from UK Trade and Investment have visited on official business in each month since May 2010.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The information requested will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Departmental Air Travel

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much UK Trade and Investment spent on (a) first, (b) business and (c) economy class flights in each month since May 2010.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 9 February 2012
	UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) does not directly employ staff but draws on resource from its two parent Departments the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and private sector contractors. UKTI has 1,234 people located overseas with FCO in 97 different markets; 300 private sector contractors in the English regions; and 580 civil servants in London, Glasgow and the English regions.
	UKTI holds financial information on travel costs at the aggregate level centrally while detailed information is held locally. To provide the information requested would require obtaining detailed information from each location and therefore can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Work Experience

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what work experience or traineeship schemes his Department offers to minority groups.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not operate a discrete scheme for work experience placements. However, it participates in The Whitehall Internship programme that offers two weeks of work experience for college level year 12 students from under-represented groups, including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.
	These placements aim to increase professional experience and workplace skills for individuals from under-represented backgrounds.
	The Department does not provide specific apprenticeships for minority groups; individuals will need to be suitably qualified for particular apprenticeship vacancies. Since apprenticeships are jobs they reflect the wider labour market, and recruitment decisions are for employers. However, the same legal duties apply to apprentices as to other staff.

EU External Trade: Peru

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 31 January 2012, Official Report, column 37WS, on trade policy (opt-ins), what recent assessment he has made of the likely effects on the level of illegal logging in the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon of the EU-Andean (Peru and Colombia) Free Trade Agreement.

Norman Lamb: The EU's Sustainability impact assessment of the EU-Andean Agreement identified that increased market access for processed timber products could increase deforestation trends, including through illegal logging.
	The agreement's sustainable development chapter contains provisions that are designed to mitigate this. All parties have committed to improve forest law enforcement and governance and promote trade in legal and sustainable forest products, such as developing mechanisms that allow verification of the legal origin of timber products, strengthening the role of independent supervision institutions and voluntary mechanisms for forest certification.

European Fighter Aircraft: India

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings UK Trade and Investment held with the Indian government on the Eurofighter prior to the decision of the Indian government not to buy the Eurofighter.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 February 2012
	UK Government Ministers and the British high commission in New Delhi have for several years been strongly promoting Typhoon at every suitable opportunity with representatives of the Indian Government, in close co-ordination with the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation, and with our Eurofighter partners.

Flexible Working

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to employers of introducing more flexible working practices.

Norman Lamb: In May 2011 we published the Modern Workplaces consultation document which was accompanied by a full impact assessment of the extension to the right to request flexible working to all employees. A copy of this impact assessment can be found here:
	http://c561635.r35.cf2.rackcdn.com/11-744-extending-right-to-request-flexible-working-impact.pdf
	The impact assessment showed that the annual benefits to employers from flexible working are increased employee productivity (£55 million), lower labour turnover (£11.8 million) and reduced absenteeism (2.5 million). In extending the right to request flexible working to all employees we are also proposing to remove the existing statutory procedure for considering requests and replacing it with a duty on employers to consider flexible working requests reasonably, supported by a statutory code of practice to explain what we mean by reasonable. This will give employers greater flexibility when considering flexible working requests, which we estimate will save employers £12.8 million per year.
	Alongside these quantified benefits we recognise that there a number of substantial benefits to employers that we haven't been able to quantify. These include access to a wider talent pool of candidates when recruiting; reduced office overheads and fixed costs as employees work from home or in a more flexible way requiring less office space.

Further Education: Higher Education

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make arrangements for unfilled places to study for higher education qualifications in further education colleges to be transferred to universities.

David Willetts: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is responsible for allocating student places. HEFCE have made it clear in their guidance that if an institution under recruits by more than 5% or 25 places, whichever is the larger, it may lead to a reduction in the number of student places allocated in future years.

Google

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations his Department received from Google Inc. and any of its operating parts on proposals for extending copyright exceptions for educational use, prior to his Department's bringing forward proposals on that matter.

Norman Lamb: No representations were received by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from (a) Google Inc. and (b) any of its operating parts on proposals for extending copyright exceptions for educational use, prior to publication of the Government's consultation on Copyright.

Graduates: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people graduated from higher education in (a) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency and (b) Cumbria in each of the last 10 years.

David Willetts: holding answer 8 February 2012
	The latest available information on first degree qualifiers from full-time courses at UK higher education institutions who were aged under 25 is shown in the following table for each of the last 10 years. Information for the 2011/12 academic year will become available from January 2013. Equivalent figures for qualifiers from higher education courses at further education colleges are not available.
	
		
			 Full-time first degree qualifiers aged under 25 from Cumbria local authority and Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency. UK higher education institutions, academic years 2001/02 to 2010/11 
			 Academic year Cumbria of which Westmorland and Lonsdale 
			 2001/02 1,435 355 
			 2002/03 1,505 345 
			 2003/04 1,530 355 
			 2004/05 1,610 340 
			 2005/06 1,555 355 
			 2006/07 1,635 365 
			 2007/08 1,605 365 
			 2008/09 1,600 355 
			 2009/10 1,705 385 
			 2010/11 1,735 370 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are based on a HESA qualifications obtained population and have been rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of five. 2. The figures in the answer do not include qualifiers where the local authority and constituency of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid postcode information. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record

Green Investment Bank

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the amount of investment in London which will result from the creation of the Green Investment Bank;
	(2)  how many jobs he expects to be created in London as a result of the establishment of the Green Investment Bank.

Mark Prisk: Capitalised with £3 billion, the Green Investment Bank (GIB) will complement other green policies to help accelerate additional capital in green infrastructure. It is not yet possible to assess how much investment will be created in any particular part of the country. It will not be a large institution; the indications are that it will employ no more than 50-100 full-time equivalent staff. Nevertheless it is clear that people see it as a valuable organisation which will be an asset to its location. The decision on where the GIB will be located will be announced later this month.

Higher Education

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to publish the responses his Department received to its consultation on the higher education White Paper, Students at the Heart of the System.

David Willetts: The White Paper consultation, “Students at the Heart of the System” was published on 28 June 2011. Over 200 responses were received and in addition comments were posted on the consultation website and on a Student Room discussion forum.
	The Department also published on 4 August 2011 a technical consultation document, “A new fit for purpose regulatory framework for the higher education sector”. Over 150 responses were received.
	We intend to publish in due course a response covering the range of issues which were considered. The response will include a list of respondents and a summary of responses for each of the consultations.

Higher Education

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to help ensure that more UK universities are ranked in the world's top 100 universities.

David Willetts: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Simon Kirby) on 24 January 2012, Official Report, columns 227-28W.

Higher Education: Admissions

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings the Minister for Universities and Science has had with for-profit education providers which have subsequently received approval for higher education courses to be designated courses.

David Willetts: holding answer 14 December 2011
	Applications for the specific designation of courses from privately funded institutions for student support purposes are assessed against standard criteria. My response to the hon. Member's previous question on 12 January 2012, Official Report, columns 407-08W, outlined the procedure involved.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold comprehensive information on whether higher education providers Ministers have met are classed as for-profit or not-for profit. A quarterly-updated list of all BIS ministerial meetings with external organisations is available at:
	http://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/disclosure-ministerial-hospitality-received-department-for-business

Higher Education: Admissions

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many pupils went on to higher education in Gillingham and Rainham constituency in the most recent period for which figures are available; and how many of those go on to postgraduate education.

David Willetts: The latest available information on young undergraduate and postgraduate entrants from Gillingham and Rainham constituency to UK high education institutions is shown in the following table. Information for the 2011/12 academic year will become available from January 2013. Equivalent figures for entrants to higher education courses at further education colleges are not available.
	
		
			 Young (1)  undergraduate and postgraduate entrants from Gillingham and Rainham constituency (2) : UK higher education institutions, academic year 2010/11 
			 Level of study Entrants (3) 
			 Undergraduate 555 
		
	
	
		
			 Postgraduate 70 
			 (1) Covers undergraduate entrants aged under 21 and postgraduate entrants aged under 25. (2) The figures in the table do not include entrants where the constituency of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid postcode information. (3) Covers entrants to full-time and part-time courses. Note: Figures in the table are based on a HESA standard registration population and are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record

Higher Education: Admissions

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the student number control for English universities is in 2011-12.

David Willetts: The student number control for English higher education institutions (including further education colleges) in 2011/12 is 364,325. This is the limit on students starting full-time undergraduate and postgraduate certificate in education study.

Higher Education: Applications

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many home applicants in each ethnic group had submitted applications to UCAS by (a) 15 January 2012 and (b) by the equivalent date in the 2010-11 admissions cycle.

David Willetts: The information has been provided by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and is shown in the table.
	
		
			 UK domiciled applicants to full-time undergraduate courses in the UK as at 15 January 
			  Year of entry 
			 Ethnic group 2011 (1) 2012 (2) 
			 Asian 50,739 48,241 
			 Black 35,017 33,739 
			 White 393,754 354,959 
		
	
	
		
			 Mixed 17,809 16,289 
			 Other 5,413 6,306 
			 Unknown 3,656 2,973 
			 Total 506,388 462,507 
			 (1) Applicants applying to enter courses starting in autumn 2011, including those who applied for deferred entry in 2012. (2) Applicants applying to enter courses starting in autumn 2012, including those who applied for deferred entry in 2013.

Higher Education: Finance

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 11 January 2012, Official Report, columns 342-43W, on students: fees and charges, which (a) individuals and (b) organisations the Higher Education Funding Council for England will consult on teacher funding for 2013-14; and when he expects the consultation to begin.

David Willetts: I expect the Higher Education Funding Council for England to begin its consultation on teaching funding for academic year 2013-14 shortly. It will be open for response from all interested individuals and organisations.

Higher Education: Finance

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much investment funding the research councils have allocated to universities in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five (i) academic and (ii) financial years.

David Willetts: Research grants and contracts income from the Research Councils to UK Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs) is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 £000 
			 Country of HEI 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 
			 England 1,274,456 1,240,478 1,119,386 961,097 893,323 
			 Wales 53,070 51,548 43,900 35,580 34,604 
			 Scotland 234,044 218,359 176,951 144,568 134,298 
			 Northern Ireland 23,787 20,743 17,942 10,734 11,147 
			 Notes: 1. 2009-10 is the latest available data. 2. Data relates to the institutions’ financial year, i.e. 1 August to 31 July. 3. Data includes research grants and contracts from the Research Councils, The Royal Society, British Academy and The Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Higher Education: Part-time Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has spent on financial education for applicants wishing to study higher education courses on a part-time basis.

David Willetts: An information campaign about the reforms to higher education student finance ran from May 2011 to February 2012 which cost £2.61 million. Messaging to part-time applicants was a feature of the campaign, but it is not possible to disaggregate this activity as a portion of the total spend.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has also set up a stakeholder reference group comprised of key representatives from organisations with an interest in part-time students. This group was formed specifically to seek advice and input on tailoring communications for prospective mature part-time students in particular. The group is reviewing existing part-time communication materials and making recommendations on producing new or updated materials which best reflect part-time students as a target audience.
	The members of the stakeholder reference group have also offered to open up their own channels to the Department, such that we can broaden the reach of our messaging to part-time students.

Higher Education: Portsmouth

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people graduated from higher education in Portsmouth South constituency in each of the last 10 years.

David Willetts: The latest available information on first degree qualifiers from full-time courses at UK higher education institutions who were aged under 25 from Portsmouth South constituency is shown in the table for each of the last 10 years. Information for the 2011/12 academic year will become available from January 2013. Equivalent figures for qualifiers from higher education courses at further education colleges are not available.
	
		
			 Full-time first degree qualifiers aged under 25 from Portsmouth South constituency. UK higher education institutions. Academic years 2001/02 to 2010/11 
			 Academic years Qualifiers 
			 2001/02 180 
			 2002/03 220 
			 2003/04 180 
			 2004/05 225 
			 2005/06 215 
			 2006/07 250 
			 2007/08 290 
			 2008/09 265 
			 2009/10 265 
			 2010/11 235 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are based on a HESA qualifications obtained population and have been rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of five. 2. The figures in the answer do not include qualifiers where the parliamentary constituency of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid postcode information. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record

Higher Education: Private Sector

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the Education Act 1994, what his policy is on student unions for private providers who are awarded degree awarding powers.

David Willetts: Where a students’ union has been established, the Education Act 1994 places a duty on governing bodies of universities, higher education corporations and designated institutions to take reasonable steps to ensure that it operates in a fair and democratic manner and is accountable for its finances. Section 21 of the Education Act 1994 sets out the establishments to which the legislation applies. This does not include private providers, irrespective of whether the organisations hold degree awarding powers.
	The Higher Education White Paper “Students at the Heart of the System” and the technical consultation document “A new fit for purpose regulatory framework for the higher education sector” set out a number of measures designed to encourage greater student engagement. We will publish a response in due course.

Higher Education: Research

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 7 February 2012, Official Report, column 247W, on higher education: research, what assessment he has made of the success of the programmes supported by his Department in transferring innovative university research to the commercial sector in each of the last five years.

David Willetts: Details of the impact of programmes supported by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and its partner organisations can be found at:
	the Higher Education Funding Council for England website:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/econsoc/buscom/
	which includes analysis and evaluation of knowledge exchange funding:
	www.hefce.ac.uk/econsoc/buscom/strat/
	and analysis of the Higher Education—Business and Community Interaction Survey:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/econsoc/buscom/hebci/
	the Research Council Impact Reports:
	http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/2012news/Pages/120103_4.aspx
	the publications pages of the Technology Strategy Board:
	http://www.innovateuk.org
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file52026.pdf
	for a 2009 report on the Smart programme; and
	http://www.ktponline.org.uk/annualreports/
	for evaluations of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.

Higher Education: Scholarships

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consideration he has given to implementing the recommendation of the Advocate for Access to Education on the use of the National Scholarship Programme to cover accommodation and living costs unless a student opts for a fee.

David Willetts: The National Scholarship Programme starts for new students entering higher education from September 2012 who are from family backgrounds with an income no greater than £25,000 a year and who meet the institution's criteria. The programme was designed with the help of an advisory group which included the National Union of Students, Universities UK, the Sutton Trust, the Association of Colleges and the Office for Fair Access. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes), the Government's Advocate for Access to Education, attended the meetings.
	The programme is designed to provide a direct benefit to individual, eligible students of £3,000 (full time). We recognise that cash is an important factor for many students and the menu of support that institutions can offer students from the National Scholarship Programme includes a cash bursary—capped at £1,000. Other menu options can include fee waivers, a free foundation year or discounted accommodation.
	The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) advises us that there is no hard evidence to support, for example, bursaries over fee waivers or vice versa. OFFA will closely monitor the impact of fee waivers and bursaries and look to conduct research and analysis to see if evidence emerges to suggest one method of financial support is more effective than another in supporting and protecting access.
	The Higher Education Funding Council for England has commissioned Centre for Enterprise Research and Consultancy, an independent research and consultancy body, to undertake an evaluation of the National Scholarship Programme. We will consider the findings from the evaluation of the introduction of the NSP in advance of a full programme being in place from 2014.

Higher Education: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) East Yorkshire and (c) the Humberside region applied to study at (i) Oxford or Cambridge university and (ii) Russell Group universities in each of the last 10 admission cycles.

David Willetts: holding answer 20 January 2012
	The information, showing data for each constituency in Humberside, is given in the following tables.
	
		
			 Table 1: Total number of UCAS applicants from parliamentary constituencies in Humberside, who applied to study at Oxford or Cambridge, year of entry 2002 to 2011 
			 Parliamentary constituency 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Beverley and Holderness 31 29 30 24 23 31 20 24 30 24 
			 Brigg and Goole 16 18 22 25 18 13 14 14 21 28 
			 Cleethorpes 14 22 18 22 16 10 14 19 9 20 
			 East Yorkshire 22 18 20 34 28 27 26 29 26 14 
			 Great Grimsby 8 9 11 9 7 11 8 15 (1)— 11 
			 Haltemprice and Howden 29 36 30 40 26 30 34 32 25 31 
			 Kingston upon Hull East 10 (1)— 9 8 (1)— (1)— (1)— 12 7 (1)— 
			 Kingston upon Hull North 16 8 9 (1)— 13 (1)— 14 9 20 8 
			 Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle 8 6 10 (1)— 6 (1)— 9 (1)— 8 8 
			 Scunthorpe 21 19 15 14 8 22 18 19 20 11 
			 (1) Numbers have been suppressed as these figures are 5 or less. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Total number of UCAS applicants from parliamentary constituencies in Humberside, who applied to study at Russell Group universities, year of entry 2002 to 2011 
			 Parliamentary constituency 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Beverley and Holderness 312 300 265 294 276 295 339 318 324 277 
			 Brigg and Goole 197 189 234 198 200 220 200 210 226 233 
			 Cleethorpes 222 227 212 199 193 213 208 231 225 207 
			 East Yorkshire 253 275 248 250 275 249 281 291 293 275 
			 Great Grimsby 138 158 141 128 146 157 151 137 146 140 
			 Haltemprice and Howden 301 286 311 325 334 305 302 350 324 338 
			 Kingston upon Hull East 97 109 99 118 115 90 110 126 114 136 
			 Kingston upon Hull North 128 185 171 175 147 157 172 155 199 214 
			 Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle 108 116 115 115 132 133 128 152 164 156 
			 Scunthorpe 212 179 210 189 175 202 206 200 224 204 
			 Note: The figures show the number of applicants who made one or more applications to courses at Russell Group institutions. Applicants can submit up to five applications.

Influenza: International Cooperation

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials from his Department he expects to attend the forthcoming conference on the H5N1 flu virus in Geneva.

David Willetts: No Ministers or officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will be attending the forthcoming conference on the H5N1 flu virus in Geneva.

Innovation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the effect of value-based pricing on innovation.

David Willetts: The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has been working closely with the Department of Health in the latter's consideration of a move to a value-based pricing system for pharmaceuticals.
	This work is ongoing with a consultation stage impact assessment published by the Department for Health alongside a consultation document. The Government's response to this consultation was published on 18 July 2011.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is now working with the Department of Health in analysing the impact that changes in regulatory pricing regimes may have on the innovation decisions within the pharmaceutical industry. This analysis will contribute to the Department for Health's final stage impact assessment of value-based pricing which will be published in 2013.

Nuclear Power

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the cost to his Department was of participation in the January 2012 Civil Nuclear Export Showcase, organised by UK Trade and Investment; how many officials of his Department attended the event; what the outcome of the meeting was; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: The UK Civil Nuclear Energy Showcase held in London between 25 and 26 January this year, resulted in costs of £35,758 to UK Trade & Investment's (UKTI) programme budget. This figure does not include the travel and subsistence costs of participating officials, which were drawn from a number of locally held budgets.
	14 UKTI officials took part—six from the UK and eight from overseas accompanying the overseas delegates.
	The event resulted in 34 overseas delegates gaining important insights into the capabilities of the UK civil nuclear supply chain and 131 UK delegates receiving briefings on civil nuclear plans in Russia, Jordan, Latvia, China, Thailand, India, South Africa, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Vietnam.
	Feedback so far has been highly favourable: UK and overseas delegates were satisfied with the quality of the contacts made and information exchanged and expressed optimism about the prospects for future business.

Regional Assistance: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the value to the Northern Ireland economy of automatic assisted area status.

Mark Prisk: The UK Government have carried out consultation on removing Northern Ireland's 100% automatic assisted area status from the Industrial Development Act 1982 and will be issuing a response shortly. The response will be informed by the available evidence which includes evidence on the value of automatic assisted area status to the Northern Ireland economy. However it should be noted that although removing the automatic 100% assisted area coverage could restrict the geographical location of where regional aid is given, it would not in itself mean that Northern Ireland would be able to give less regional aid.

Regional Assistance: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the Northern Ireland economy of the loss of automatic assisted area status.

Mark Prisk: The UK Government have carried out consultation on removing Northern Ireland's 100% automatic assisted area status from the Industrial Development Act 1982 and will be issuing a response shortly. The response will be informed by the available evidence which includes evidence on the potential effect on the Northern Ireland economy. However it should be noted that although removing the automatic 100% assisted area coverage could restrict the geographical location of where regional aid is given, it would not in itself mean that Northern Ireland would be able to give less regional aid.

Regional Assistance: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on retaining automatic assisted area status for Northern Ireland.

Mark Prisk: The decision on whether Northern Ireland should retain its 100% automatic assisted area status as set out in the Industrial Development Act 1982 is a decision for the UK Government and as such I have not discussed this with my EU counterparts.

Student Loan Company

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what measures his Department has put in place to ensure the capacity of the Student Loans Company to administer student finance in England following the changes to undergraduate tuition fee levels and student support arrangements.

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has provided additional resources to the Student Loans Company (SLC) for the implementation and administration of changes to higher education student funding, as set out in the Annual Performance and Resource Agreement (APRA) letter.
	The Department is working closely with SLC to ensure robust arrangements are in place so that the first student finance application cycle following the changes is administered successfully.

Student Loan Company

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the capacity of the Student Loans Company to administer student finance in England following the changes to undergraduate tuition fee levels and student support arrangements.

David Willetts: The delivery of changes to higher education student funding in England has been subject to rigorous risk assessment and monitoring, which covers all delivery partners’ capacity to deliver the reforms and administer student finance.
	Appropriate steps will be taken to address any concerns that arise about the capacity or capability of Student Loans Company or any others partners essential to the successful delivery and administration of the changes to higher education student funding.

Student Loan Company: Finance

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the budget for administration was for the Student Loans Company in each financial year since 2008-09.

David Willetts: The Student Loan Company's (SLC's) running cost budget is confirmed each year in an Annual Performance and Resource Agreement (APRA) letter issued by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on behalf of the four UK Government Administrations. SLC's total resource budgets for running costs since 2008-09, as confirmed in APRA letters, are as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Total resource budget (£) 
			 2008-09 86,696,000 
			 2009-10 98,116,000 
			 2010-11 102,562,000 
			 2011-12 113,316,000

Student Loan Company: Manpower

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many staff were employed by the Student Loans Company in January (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011 and (e) 2012.

David Willetts: The number of staff employed by the Student Loans Company in January of each year since 2008 is as follows:
	
		
			 Staff employed by SLC in January of each year 
			  As at January: 
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Permanent employees 1,361 1,907 1,868 1,793 1,963 
			 Temporary employees 19 36 66 190 41 
			 Total employees 1,380 1,943 1,934 1,983 2,004

Student Loan Company: Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he was made aware of the arrangements for remunerating the chief executive of the Student Loans Company.

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) approved the appointment and remuneration package for the Student Loans Company (SLC) chief executive put forward by the SLC Board in December 2010. BIS and SLC followed the correct processes, gaining approval from across Government, and were satisfied that the package met the relevant guidelines, including value for money.
	The SLC chief executive has helped to improve the organisation. The SLC's overall performance has improved and continues to improve so that the SLC operates more effectively in the interests of students.

Students: Fees and Charges

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that any higher education institution charging fees of £6,000 per annum is collaborating with other institutions at a regional level on access issues.

David Willetts: Institutions intending to charge more than the £6,000 basic amount for tuition must first demonstrate to the independent Director of Fair Access what more they will do to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds. These plans are finalised in approved Access Agreements.
	Ministers at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills wrote to the Director of Fair Access on 10 February 2011 setting out the Government's expectations about how he should approach the approval and monitoring of new Access Agreements. The guidance set out increased expectations for the priority that institutions should give to fair access and widening participation. The guidance pointed out the effectiveness of collaborative working on widening participation, recognising that many institutions were already doing this and that Access Agreements should build on that work. We also highlighted that such collaboration also encourages the sharing of good practice.
	Additionally, we suggested that the director would want to take into account the scale and nature of outreach work with schools, colleges and other organisations. The director's guidance to the sector on how to develop Access Agreements, issued March 2011, in turn emphasised the importance of collaboration between institutions in delivering long-term outreach activity with schools and colleges, both in terms of increasing coverage and avoiding duplication.

Taxation: Senior Civil Servants

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what fees his Department paid to Penna as a result of the remuneration arrangements for the Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company in the last year for which figures are available.

David Willetts: The Department has not made any payment to Penna in respect of remuneration arrangements for the chief executive of the Student Loans Company (SLC). Information on SLC's payments to Penna in respect of the chief executive's remuneration is contained in SLC's Annual Report and Accounts and in information provided by SLC as part of the Government's transparency agenda, both of which are available via SLC's website.

Technology and Innovation Centres

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the average length of time was between the Technology Strategy Board agreeing payments to business and businesses receiving (a) the first payment and (b) the entire payment in the last year for which figures are available.

David Willetts: The Technology Strategy Board provides a wide range of support to encourage innovation in UK businesses from small grants to individual small and medium-sized enterprises to large grants to complex multi-partner collaborative projects. On average, projects start 86 working days after the application has been approved and this includes time to undertake financial and other checks and also takes into consideration the wishes of the companies as to when they want to start the project, which is not always as soon as the funding has been approved.
	The Technology Strategy Board agrees a start date with each project approved for funding. Project companies then submit claims usually on a quarterly basis.
	The Technology Strategy Board supports projects with a duration from six months to five years. The final grant payment is received by companies on the completion of the project subject to satisfying the conditions of the grant offer letter or contract.

UK Trade and Investment: Visits Abroad

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the cost to UK Trade and Investment was of (a) travel and (b) accommodation for those attending the recent World Economic Trade and Investment Forum in Davos.

Mark Prisk: The total cost to UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) of this visit will be available on the UKTI website following the publication of UKTI's audited accounts for the year ending March 2012.
	The cost will include accommodation and in-country costs including some travel by car. These costs do not include air fares.

UK Trade and Investment: Visits Abroad

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the cost to UK Trade and Investment was of (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) entertainment at the recent World Economic Trade and Investment Forum in Davos for the UK Trade and Investment's former Special Representative for International Trade.

Mark Prisk: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) does not pay for HRH the Duke of York's air fares. UKTI will contribute towards HRH the Duke of York's accommodation costs and in-country travel for the days that he attended the World Economic Forum 2012 at Davos. UKTI will also contribute to relevant associated expenses for HRH's supporting staff including in-country transfer to airports. These costs do not include in-country travel by air. There are no entertainment costs.
	The total cost to UKTI of this visit will be available on the UKTI website following the publication of UKTI's audited accounts for the year ending March 2012.

Unemployment

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  who the providers are of the prevention and transition referral process for people not in education, employment or training;
	(2)  what funding his Department has allocated to the prevention and transition referral process for people not in education, employment or training.

Tim Loughton: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Education.
	Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide young people aged 16 to 19 with support to encourage, enable and assist them to participate in education or training. This includes helping those young people who are not currently in education, employment or training to make a successful return to learning.
	We want to ensure that local authorities have the freedom to deliver this responsibility in a way that best meets the needs of local people. Each local authority will work with a range of organisations to ensure that young people in their area receive the support they need.
	Local authorities are able to fund this activity from within the Early Intervention Grant (EIG). £2,232 million has been allocated to local authorities in England in 2011-12 and £2,365 million will be allocated in 2012-13 through the Grant. The EIG brings together a number of previously centrally directed grants, providing local authorities with more flexibility to invest in preventative services.

Venture Capital

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of Government-backed venture capital schemes since 1997.

Mark Prisk: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has put in place an evaluation strategy for all its equity funds. A full impact evaluation will be conducted as funds close (typically 10-12 years), with early (1-2 year) and interim (6-7 year) reviews of progress after funds are established. BIS has undertaken early stage and interim assessments of Regional Venture Capital Funds, Early Growth Funds, UK High Tech Fund, Bridges, Aspire, Capital for Enterprise Fund and Enterprise Capital Fund. These reports are published on the BIS website. Final evaluations for these schemes will be undertaken once sufficient time has elapsed for benefits to be realised.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects to answer question 91406; and if he will explain the reasons for the time taken in answering.

Norman Lamb: I replied to the hon. Member on 8 February 2012, Official Report, column 326W.
	Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills aim to respond to all questions for written answer as promptly as possible. Responses can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including the need to ensure that appropriate advice or information is sought.

TRANSPORT

A3: Hampshire

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport further to her answer of 24 January 2012, Official Report, column 166W, on A3: Hampshire, when she next plans that her Department will take measurements of actual traffic flows on the A3 between the Hindhead tunnel and Petersfield.

Michael Penning: Following the opening of any road scheme, the Highways Agency undertakes post opening project evaluation (POPE) to examine whether it has brought the anticipated benefits and impacts as predicted. These are undertaken one year and five years after opening.
	In line with HA procedures, a POPE will take place after the end of July 2012, when the A3 Hindhead tunnel will have been open for 12 months, and again after July 2016 when the road will have been open for five years. This evaluation will consider the changes in traffic flows among other criteria.

Air Passenger Duty

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment she has made of the potential effects of setting variable air passenger duties in each constituent part of the UK.

Chloe Smith: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 January 2012, Official Report, column 31W.

Cycleways

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations her Department has had on (a) improving the standard of current bridle ways so that they are fit for cycling and (b) increasing the number of dedicated cycle paths on the Fylde coast.

Norman Baker: The information is as follows:
	(a) The Department has had no representations regarding improving the standard of bridleways on the Fylde coast.
	(b) The provision of local cycling infrastructure is a matter for the local highway authority. As well as the £1.8 billion capital funding provided through the integrated transport block during this spending review period, we are allocating £560 million to local authorities through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund to support packages of measures that deliver economic growth and cut carbon. Blackpool city council's bid to Tranche 1 of the fund was rejected. Lancashire county council is expected to submit a bid for Tranche 2, the closing date for which is 24 February.

Cycling

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research her Department has commissioned on the benefits of cycling to the (a) cyclist and (b) wider community in the last three years.

Norman Baker: The Department has commissioned the following research on the benefits of cycling to the cyclist and wider community in the last three years:
	Analysis and synthesis of evidence on the effects of investment in six Cycling Demonstration Towns (Slowman et al, November 2009):
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/analysis-and-synthesis-of-evidence-on-the-effects-of-investment-in-six-cycling-demonstration-towns/cyclingdemotowns.pdf
	Valuing increased cycling in the Cycling Demonstration Towns (Sustrans & Cavill Associates, December 2009):
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110407094607/http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/valuing-increased-cycling-in-the-cycling-demonstration-towns.pdf
	Cycling Demonstration Towns Development of Benefit-Cost Ratios (DfT, February 2010):
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110407094607/http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/cdts-development-of-benefit-cost-ratios.pdf
	Road Safety Web Publication No. 17: Cycling, Safety and Sharing the Road: Qualitative Research with Cyclists and Other Road Users (Christmas et al, September 2010):
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/safety-cycling-and-sharing-the-road-qualitative-research-with-cyclists-and-other-road-users/rswp17.pdf
	Climate Change and Transport Choices: Segmentation Study Interim Report (TNS-BMRB, December 2010):
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/climate-change-and-transport-choices/
	Research to explore perceptions and experiences of Bikeability training among parents and children (Ipsos MORI, December 2010):
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/research-to-explore-perceptions-and-experiences-of-bikeability-training-amongst-parents-and-children/bikeabilitytraining.pdf
	New Ways to Increase Cycling: Lessons from the Finding New Solutions Programme (Arup, April 2011)
	We have commissioned research to examine Bikeability delivery data and mode of travel to school data in order to identify any emerging trends. This will be published in spring 2012.
	Evaluation of the Cycling City and Towns programme (A consortium led by AECOM working with the University of the West of England and The Tavistock Institute, ongoing). The evaluation will explore the benefits of cycling via a range of research activities which are summarised on the Department's website:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/cycling-city-and-towns-programme
	and include:
	An interim evaluation report published January 2010
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/cycling-city-and-towns-programme-interim-report
	Analysis investigating the potential health benefits of increasing cycling in the Cycling City and Towns, (Cavill Associates, currently being completed and will be published in line with the Government Social Research publication protocol
	http://www.dft.gov.Uk/topics/science-research/social/
	Further research on the Cycling Demonstration Towns can be found at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110407094607/http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/cycling-cities-towns/results/

Cycling

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps she is taking to (a) discourage cyclists from riding on pavements and (b) promote cyclist confidence in respect of cycling on roads.

Norman Baker: The information is as follows:
	(a) The enforcement of cycling offences is an operational matter for the police. A fixed penalty notice (FPN) of £30 was introduced in 1999, which provides the police with a direct means of dealing with illegal cycling on the pavement. The police can issue this fine as appropriate, or prosecute alleged offenders, where the maximum fine is £500.
	(b) Bikeability is “cycling proficiency” for the 21st century, and gives people the skills and confidence to cycle safely and well in modern road conditions. The Department has committed to support Bikeability for the remainder of this Parliament and is currently providing grant funding of up to £11 million per year for Bikeability training in schools.
	Bikeability is for all ages. There is a range of training available to suit all requirements from the complete beginner wanting to boost their confidence to those wanting to develop more advanced skills. The Bikeability website contains further information for those wishing to find a suitable cycle training provider:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/bikeability/the-three-levels/cycling-skills-for-adults/

Driving Offences

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of drivers who had their driving licences revoked within (i) a year and (ii) two years of passing their driving test in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: The information requested is not readily available and would incur disproportionate costs to gather.

Driving Offences

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of drivers who were issued three penalty points within (i) a year and (ii) two years of passing their driving test in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: The information requested is shown in the following table for the last four years. Offences that obtain three penalty points are removed after four years, earlier information is not available. Only partial information is available for the figures highlighted in bold, as offences are still updating the driver's record.
	
		
			  Number of driving tests passed Number of drivers who incurred three penalty points within one year of passing Percentage Number of drivers who incurred three penalty points within two years of passing Percentage 
			 2008 843,640 38,729 5 73,253 9 
			 2009 748,935 30,521 4 55,058 7 
			 2010 713,170 21,641 3 29,703 4 
			 2011 768,212 8,089 1 n/a n/a

Driving Tests: Bury

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 24 November 2011, Official Report, column 488W, on driving tests: Bury, on what date the works at Bury Driving Test Centre will commence.

Michael Penning: The driving test centre at Bury is expected to reopen by the end of March 2012.
	The reopening has been delayed as there was a need for structural and asbestos surveys prior to issuing contract tenders. Works are forecast to begin in late February 2012 and will be completed in late March 2012.

Driving under Influence: Rehabilitation

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 638W, on driving under the influence: rehabilitation, what meetings (a) she, (b) Ministers and (c) officials in her Department have had with all potential providers of drink drive rehabilitation courses who (i) do and (ii) do not currently operate in the sector.

Michael Penning: Driving Standards Agency (DSA) officials have conducted routine inspection visits to 20 of the 21 existing Drink Drive Rehabilitation (DDR) course providers since July 2009. The remaining provider will be visited later this year.
	Agency officials have also attended regular Association of Drink Drive Providers of Training (ADDAPT) management meetings, and quarterly ADDAPT 'full members' meetings to update them on DDR developments, and to resolve business as usual DDR
	matters.
	A total of 40 expressions of interest in providing DDR courses under the new arrangement have been received since the launch of the “New Approval Arrangements for Drink-Drive Rehabilitation Courses” consultation was launched on 9 November 2011. These include expressions of interest submitted by existing course providers.
	DSA officials attended a meeting with AA Drivetech in January 2011 where DDR was a scheduled agenda item.

Fylde

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has to upgrade (a) rolling stock and (b) station facilities on the South Fylde line.

Theresa Villiers: The Northern franchise is due to be replaced between September 2013 and April 2014. As part of the Government's revised rail franchising policy, the winning bidder will be given new powers and incentives to invest in and improve stations across the franchise, including the South Fylde line.
	The Government's North West electrification programme will facilitate the release of diesel rolling stock, which could be redeployed to enhance service provision and capacity.
	There are also currently a number of active station adoption groups on the line which support the train operating company in maintaining the appearances of a number of the stations.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what comparison her Department has made of journey times between (a) the East Midlands and cities in the North East and (b) London and Birmingham in formulating its proposals for High Speed 2.

Justine Greening: Journey times from the East Midlands to the cities of the North East are an important consideration. For this reason, impacts upon journey times will form part of HS2 Ltd's advice on the route and station options for Phase 2 of the network, which will be delivered to me in March this year.
	It should be noted that HS2 will bring a number of benefits including journey time savings and wider connectivity, but also increased rail capacity. The HS2 route from London to the West Midlands will create a much needed step change in capacity on this key inter-city route, to combat increased overcrowding on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line. Meeting this capacity challenge was key to my decision to proceed with the HS2 route from London to the West Midlands.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Environment Protection

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answers of 29 November 2011, Official Report, column 889W, on High Speed 2 railway line, for what reason she will not commission an environmental impact assessment prior to making the decision to proceed with the high speed rail scheme.

Justine Greening: We have published an Appraisal of Sustainability of a new London to West Midlands high speed rail line. Following my announcement on 10 January I have asked HS2 Ltd to commence work on an environmental impact assessment (EIA). The EIA will be developed for scrutiny by Parliament which ultimately will need to give powers to build any new high speed rail line.

Large Goods Vehicles: Sleep Apnoea

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of obstructive sleep apnoea among lorry drivers.

Michael Penning: The Department is committed to identifying opportunities to raise awareness of obstructive sleep apnoea. A number of initiatives are
	ongoing with commercial drivers including questioning them directly about it as part of the compulsory medicals they undergo for driver licensing purposes and sending our ‘Tiredness Can Kill’ leaflet to them and their employers.

Metals: Theft

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she has made an estimate of (a) the value of metal stolen from railways in the Tees Valley in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011 and (b) costs incurred by (A) Network Rail and (B) train operating companies owing to the theft of metal from railways in the Tees Valley in (1) 2010 and (2) 2011.

Norman Baker: The cost of metal theft to Network Rail on the London North Eastern route, in which the Tees Valley falls, was £3,534,219 in 2010-11 and £3,677,700 in 2011-12 (up until 7 January 2012). This cost includes schedule 8 compensation payments to train operating companies. The Department does not have information on the value of the stolen metal itself.

Network Rail

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent by the previous Secretary of State for Transport to Network Rail, to which he referred in evidence to the Transport Select Committee on 26 July 2010.

Theresa Villiers: A copy of the letter has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Network Rail: Pay

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department has appointed a special director to sit on Network Rail's Remuneration Committee; and how many meetings of that committee any such special director has attended.

Theresa Villiers: Since Network Rail was created no Secretary of State has appointed a special director to its Remuneration Committee. However, as the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) has set out, proposals to strengthen the corporate governance of Network Rail will form part of the forthcoming Rail Command Paper.

Network Rail: Pay

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had with the (a) chairman and (b) chief executive of Network Rail on (i) the company’s annual executive bonus scheme and (ii) its Gainshare plan.

Michael Penning: The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), communicates regularly with Network Rail’s chairman and chief executive across a wide range of issues.
	These constructive discussions will underpin the further work around the reform of Network Rail’s governance, geared to improving the company’s accountability to customers and taxpayers. Further details will be set out in the Command Paper on rail reform which we will publish shortly.

Procurement

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects to publish her Department's review of the application of EU procurement law.

Michael Penning: holding answer 7 February 2012
	The Growth Review's outcome of public procurement practices was included in the 29 November 2011 Autumn Statement, Official Report, columns 799-810. The review compared UK procurement practices with those in Europe, particularly in France and Germany.
	The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude)’s speech on 21 November highlighted that European procurement practices complied with European law but there were significant areas in which public procurement practices could be improved to enable UK based businesses to best prepare to effectively compete for public procurement contracts.
	The Department is, in conjunction with other Government Departments, finalising its action plans which will be announced in the spring.

Railways: Accidents

Rebecca Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents of trains colliding with hanging wire as a result of overhead cable theft on railway lines were recorded in 2011.

Norman Baker: This information is collected by Network Rail, the infrastructure manager, and not the Department for Transport.

Railways: Accidents

Rebecca Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents of train drivers injured as a result of trains colliding with hanging wire on railway lines were recorded in 2011.

Theresa Villiers: The Office of Rail Regulation and the RSSB collate figures of incidents and accidents on the railway that are reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995.
	Both these bodies publish annual reports in which such rail safety statistics are set out. Page 101 to 103 of the RSSB Annual Safety Report for 2010-11 provides data on the number incidents occurring to train drivers that resulted in injury or fatality during that period. This can be found at the following link:
	www.rssb.co.uk/SPR/REPORTS/Pages/default.aspx
	However, these statistics do not specifically reference wire related injuries. The hon. Member might wish to contact the organisations direct to discuss figures applicable to this specific injury type.

Railways: Construction

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects to publish the high level output specifications and statements of funds available for Network Rail's construction phase 5.

Theresa Villiers: The High Level Output Specification and the Statement of Funds available will be published by July 2012.

Railways: Franchises

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what timetable she has set for the renewal of rail franchises in the next three years; and what timetable she has set for (a) publication of prior information notice, (b) publication of invitation to tender and (c) award of contract for each franchise.

Michael Penning: The forward timetable for the re-letting of rail franchises was described in a written statement on 5 August 2011, and in a Prior Information Notice published on the same day. This set out the timetable for the renewal of rail franchises over the next three years, including arrangements for the Northern and Transpennine Express franchises. The statement and Prior Information Notice are available on the Department for Transport website at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/statements/hammond-20110805
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/rail-franchising-pin

Railways: Franchises

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff of her Department work on franchise specification, renewal and management; and how many such staff work on each franchise.

Michael Penning: The requested information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Full-time equivalent (FTE) staff 
			 Franchise specification 16 
			 Franchise Management 68.5 
			 Procurement 5 
			 Legal 5 
		
	
	These figures show the staff available in the relevant divisions. However, the number of individual staff members working on specific franchises varies throughout the life of a contract, depending on a variety of factors, including franchise performance, both operational or financial, or such things as whether any large contractual variation is being progressed. Certain specialist resource, such as finance, will work across a number of franchises at all times.

Railways: Passengers

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which (a) train operating companies and (b) routes provide her Department with peak passenger count data; and which of these routes were over capacity in the peak periods in the latest period for which figures are available.

Theresa Villiers: Franchised train operators are required by the Department to undertake passenger counts as part of their franchise agreement.
	The operators that are currently franchised by the Department are: c2c, Chiltern Railways, Crosscountry, East Coast, East Midlands Trains, First Capital Connect, First Great Western, Greater Anglia, London Midland, Northern, Southeastern, Southern, South West Trains, TransPennine Express and Virgin Trains.
	Passenger counts are requested from all these operators twice yearly, in the spring and autumn. In addition, the Department routinely collects count data from Arriva Trains Wales and London Overground, which are franchised by the Welsh Government and Transport for London respectively. Merseyrail, which is franchised by Merseytravel, has also provided the Department with count data.
	Passenger count data submitted to the Department show the average number of passengers arriving at or departing from major stations on each service on a typical weekday. Data at a service or route level are commercially confidential and so cannot be released without the permission of the relevant train operator.
	However, aggregate statistics on peak crowding and passenger demand are published in chapter 2 of the Office of Rail Regulation’s National Rail Trends 2010-11 Yearbook, which is available at the following link:
	http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.2026
	These statistics are based on passenger count data provided by the Department and show peak demand into London and other cities in autumn 2010, the latest period for which data are currently available. For each main London terminal and major regional city information given includes the percentage of peak services where, on a typical day, the number of passengers exceeded the seating capacity provided.

Roads: Accidents

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many drivers of (a) all ages and (b) over the age of 70 years have died while driving a road vehicle in each year between 2007 and 2010.

Michael Penning: Table 1 shows the number of driver/rider fatalities of motor vehicles in reported road accidents, by driver/rider age, in Great Britain over 2007-10. The fatality figures include all casualties who sustained injuries which caused death within 30 days of the accident.
	
		
			 Table 1: Reported road accident driver/rider fatalities of motor vehicles, by driver/rider age GB: 2007-10 
			  Age of driver/rider 
			  (a) All ages (1) (b) Aged over 70 years 
			 2007 1,610 124 
			 2008 1,415 135 
			 2009 1,211 106 
			 2010 1,033 104 
			 (1) Includes cases where age was not reported.

Roadworks

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the effect of utility roadworks outside commercial premises on levels of business; and if she will take steps to (a) minimise these effects and (b) compensate small businesses for the financial consequences of prolonged works.

Norman Baker: The Department has made no specific assessment, although we recognise that on occasions roadworks can affect levels of business in commercial premises. We have no current plans to provide arrangements for compensation beyond those already provided for, namely The Gas (Street Works) (Compensation of Small Businesses) Regulations 1996 and the Water Industry Act 1991, which provide for compensation to be paid in certain circumstances in respect of loss or damage caused by gas- and water-related street works. However, we are taking steps to reduce the disruption caused by street works, including the wider application of permit schemes, the piloting of lane rental, and the introduction of the performance scorecard. Further information about these initiatives may be found at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/topics/road-management/street-works/

Shipping: Security

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she plans to issue more detailed guidance on the use of armed guards on UK-flagged shipping.

Michael Penning: As I stated when the “Interim guidance to UK flagged shipping on the use of armed guards to defend against the threat of piracy in exceptional circumstances” was published it will be reviewed in its entirety by December 2012.
	However, in response to the recent Foreign Affairs Committee report the Department for Transport has convened a meeting with relevant Government Departments to explore if there is scope for moderate further clarification in the guidance as to what the UK law says on the use of force in self defence, defence of others, defence of property, the prevention of crime and lawful arrest. This specific further guidance will be issued in line with the timings agreed in the FAC response.

Shipping: Training

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much and what proportion of the cost of training seafarers was borne by the public purse in each year since 2001.

Michael Penning: Since 2001 the Department for Transport has spent the following under the Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) scheme:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2001-02 6,273,857 
			 2002-03 7,349,636 
			 2003-04 8,702,613 
			 2004-05 8,917,440 
			 2005-06 9,339,825 
			 2006-07 9,686,424 
			 2007-08 10,632,375 
			 2008-09 12,089,021 
			 2009-10 14,055,305 
			 2010-11 14,927,531 
			 2011-12 (1)12,000,000 
			 (1 )Forecast. 
		
	
	There are 12 colleges and universities around the UK that provide seafarer education and training programmes. College fees vary, and companies do not report their own contribution to the costs of training, making it difficult to provide an accurate assessment of the proportion of the cost of training seafarers that is funded through SMarT.
	In the written ministerial statement I made on 23 January 2012, Official Report, column 5WS, I announced the outcome of the independent review which I commissioned into the economic requirement for trained seafarers in the UK. The consultants for the review found that SMarT at the current level of £12 million per year was covering up to 40% of all of the costs of training seafarers.

South Wales Railway Line: Electrification

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the planned phasing is for electrifying the Great Western main line railway to Cardiff; and what the estimated cost is of each phase.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 30 January 2012
	Network Rail plans to deliver the electrification of the Great Western in two phases which include connections to the national grid. In 2010 at an earlier stage of project development, Network Rail estimated that the first phase between Maidenhead and Newbury, Oxford and Bristol which is scheduled to be complete by 2016 would cost in the region of £574 million. The second phase between Bristol and Cardiff would cost £130 million and be ready by 2017.

Transport: Finance

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of expenditure by her Department allocated to local authority major transport schemes has been allocated to each (a) local transport authority and (b) integrated transport authority in England in each year from 2007-08 to 2014-15.

Norman Baker: I have placed in the House Library a table setting out the annual grant expenditure paid to individual local authorities and integrated transport authorities for the years 2007-08 to 2011-12 inclusive. The 2011-12 figures are based on current forecast outturn of expenditure.
	Individual allocations for 2012-13 through to 2014-15 will be finalised at the start of each financial year. For schemes currently under construction, these allocations will be informed by previous expenditure and the promoting authorities' forecasts of annual expenditure for future years. For schemes given programme entry approval in February 2011, details of funding contributions are available on the Department's website at:
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/investment-in-local-major-transport-schemes-update/transportschemesupdate.pdf
	In October 2011 conditional approval was given to funding the Mersey Gateway Bridge scheme (Halton borough council). Further details are set out at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20111003a/
	For schemes given programme entry approval in November/December 2011, details of the Department's funding contributions are available at:
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/local-authority-major-transport-schemes/investment-local-major-update-dec2011.pdf

West Coast Railway Line

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport to what extent her Department's review of the application of EU procurement law will inform the tender process for the West Coast Mainline franchise.

Michael Penning: holding answer 7 February 2012
	The outcome of the Growth Review's consideration of the application of EU public procurement law in the UK and Europe was included in the 29 November 2011 autumn statement. It proposed a number of initiatives to enable business to better prepare to effectively compete for public procurement contracts. These initiatives are largely focussed on preparing the market in advance of the tender process.
	The Intercity West Coast bidders were consulted on the development of the Invitation to Tender prior to its issue in January.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Aerials: Planning Permission

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will consider commissioning a review of planning legislation as it applies to mobile telephone masts.

Bob Neill: We have no current plans to review this specific legislation.

Affordable Housing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to increase the supply of affordable housing in (a) the South East and (b) nationally.

Andrew Stunell: Through the new Affordable Homes Programme the Homes and Communities Agency currently expects to deliver 15,246 new affordable homes in their East and South East operating area between April 2011 and April 2015. Commitments from the previous programme will produce a further 13,760 affordable homes. In England, 146 providers will deliver 80,000 new affordable homes with Government funding of just under £1.8 billion by April 2015. These figures may change subject to signing remaining contracts with providers.
	Overall, with our total investment of £4.5 billion, we expect to provide up to 170,000 new affordable homes in England between 2011 and 2015, compared to 150,000 originally estimated.
	The New Homes Bonus also rewards councils for helping provide more affordable housing; our empty homes programme will support vacant properties being brought back into use as affordable housing; and the Community Right to Build will help provide low-cost homes for local families and residents.

Affordable Housing

Nick Raynsford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 25 January 2012, Official Report, columns 242-43, on council tax rates and rating, if he will publish a table showing how many of the net additions to the housing stock in each council tax band qualified for the affordable homes premium in each local authority in England in 2010-11. [R]

Grant Shapps: Between April 2010 and April 2011 there were 60,640 additional affordable homes qualifying for the premium, which totals £21 million and will be provided in 2012-13.
	The enhancement to the New Homes Bonus for affordable homes is calculated from the official statistics published by the Department on gross additional affordable supply. These statistics are based on administrative data from the Homes and Communities Agency and returns by local authorities and these sources do not capture information on the council tax band of each property.
	The main New Homes Bonus grant is calculated separately, using the data provided on the council tax base form to calculate the increase in housing stock. The council tax base does not identify how many homes in each band are affordable properties.
	Two-thirds of the additional homes that the bonus rewarded in Year 2 (October 2010 to October 2011) were in bands A to C, and therefore are clearly lower-cost homes.

Affordable Housing: Worcester

Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information his Department holds on the number of new affordable homes built in Worcester constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Grant Shapps: The local level information collected on provision of affordable housing in England relates to local authority areas.
	Aggregate data on additions to the affordable housing stock, including both new build and acquisitions, which can be a more cost effective and quicker way of providing affordable housing, are published at local level on an annual basis. The information is available on the Departments' website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/2001308.xls

Departmental Manpower

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff were on his Department's payroll in (a) June 2010, (b) June 2011 and (c) January 2012.

Bob Neill: The Department for Communities and local Government had:
	(a) 2,110 staff (2,051 full-time equivalent staff) on payroll as of 30 June 2010
	(b) 2024 staff (1,962 full-time equivalent staff) on payroll as of 30 June 2011
	(c) 1,907 staff (1,848 full-time equivalent staff) on payroll as of 31 January 2012
	However, these figures include staff transferred into the department, in April and July 2011, to undertake the residual functions of the abolished Government offices for the regions and the regional development agencies.
	As part of the spending review settlement; the DCLG Group is making a collective 33% real terms saving against its running costs by 2014-15. This equates to savings of over £200 million by 2014-15. In addition, the Department will save a further £190 million from the closure of the Government offices for the regions, taking overall savings on administrative running costs to 42% across the DCLG Group by 2014-15.
	These savings reflect the coalition Government's agenda of decentralisation, ending the micromanagement of local government, the abolition of regional government, and the broader need to tackle the deficit left by the last Administration.

Empty Dwelling Management Orders

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties in Richmond Park constituency were subject to an empty dwellings management order in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andrew Stunell: The Residential Property Tribunal has not issued any interim empty dwelling management orders for the London boroughs of Richmond upon Thames and Kingston upon Thames, and therefore no empty dwelling management orders have been made in those boroughs.

Ex-servicemen

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to enable local authorities to identify veterans living in their area.

Grant Shapps: Last year, I wrote to all local authorities in England inviting them to strengthen their contacts with members of the armed forces community and encouraging them to sign up to a community covenant. My letter recognised that some local authorities were already working closely with local armed forces communities, and were reaching out to the veteran community.
	To encourage closer working between local authorities and Armed forces communities, a community covenant website was launched to identify good practice, with £30 million of Government funding to support projects that built links and promoted understanding.
	Additionally, last year I held a military covenant housing summit with representatives from the military, charity and local authority sectors to explore the housing issues faced by current and former service personnel. Among the various measures being taken following the summit, a number of actions will help veterans. We are:
	giving service personnel top priority for Government-funded home ownership schemes, including the FirstBuy scheme, and prioritising military personnel and their families for up to a year after active service ends;
	providing tailored support through housing experts visiting military bases across the country to explain to service personnel how they can apply for one of the many new homes that will be built in the next few years;
	currently consulting on plans to change the law so that former personnel with urgent housing needs are always given high priority on waiting lists and so that personnel who move from base to base do not lose their qualification rights;
	proposing to give local authorities greater freedom to dispose of vacant council homes at right to buy discounts to local people which could include existing or former military personnel;
	providing support for wounded service personnel through increased funding for home adaptations, so that personnel returning from active service with serious injuries can live independently with dignity and respect;
	working with homelessness and veteran experts to help ex-service personnel who find the transition back to civilian life difficult;
	providing £1.5 million (two-year funding) to help Rushmoor borough council and other councils support the integration of retired Gurkhas, who, having served in the British Army, now wish to settle in the UK.

Fire Services: Wirral

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the resilience of fire and rescue services in the Wirral of the reduction in the grant for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services in 2011-12.

Bob Neill: As the delivery of fire and rescue services are a local matter, determined by individual fire and rescue authorities, no formal assessment of the effect on resilience of fire and rescue services in the Wirral has been undertaken by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	I also refer the hon. Member to my letter of 6 December 2010 to the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House, which outlines how fire and rescue authorities can make sensible savings without impacting on the quality and breadth of services offered to their communities.

Housing: Water

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance he offers the building industry on the need to promote water efficiency in new housing.

Andrew Stunell: The Building Regulations set a calculated whole building performance standard for water use in new homes, currently at 125 litres/person/day. The Department publishes statutory guidance on how to comply with this requirement in “Approved Document G” to the Building Regulations.
	The Department publishes a “Technical Guide to The Code for Sustainable Homes” for use in evaluating the water efficiency of new homes.
	In order to help developers demonstrate that the water performance of the building is less than the limits given in the Building Regulations and the Code for Sustainable Homes, the Department publishes a calculation methodology in the “Water Efficiency Calculator for New Dwellings”.

Housing: Worcester

Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes have been registered in Worcester constituency for each of the last 20 years.

Grant Shapps: The local level information collected on house building in England relates to local authority areas.
	Data on new build housing completions (and starts) are published at local level on an annual basis. Information for years from 2004-05 onwards is available on the Department’s website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/1474276.xls
	The available data for the Worcester local authority area for earlier years are as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 1996-97 480 
			 1997-98 440 
			 1998-99 760 
			 1999-2000 n/a 
			 2000-01 n/a 
			 2001-02 200 
			 2002-03 170 
			 2003-04 n/a 
			 n/a = Not available Source: Quarterly building control returns submitted to DCLG by local authorities and the National House Building Council. Where the local authority has not submitted a quarterly return to DCLG, no figure has been presented for any 12-month period that includes the missing quarter.

Incinerators: North Yorkshire

Nigel Adams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what timetable he has set for his Department's consideration of the request for the call-in of the Allerton Park incinerator application in North Yorkshire.

Bob Neill: The general approach of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is not to interfere with the jurisdiction of local planning authorities unless it is necessary to do so and his policy is to be very selective about calling in planning applications. The planning application for the Allerton Park incinerator is currently being considered by North Yorkshire county council who anticipate being in a position to make a decision in July following completion of an ecological survey on the site.
	If the county council is minded to approve the application, the council will make their committee report available to my officials who will then consider whether the Secretary of State's intervention in this application would be appropriate or not. A decision in respect of this will be made as expediently as possible once all relevant information has been received.

Local Government: Pensions

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what data are submitted to his Department by 
	(1)  local authorities that are part of the Local Government Pension Scheme;
	(2)  the administering bodies of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Bob Neill: Local authorities and administering bodies submit local government pension scheme data to DCLG by means of the annual SF3 “Local Government Pension Scheme Funds” forms. A copy of the form, along with the associated guidance notes, can be found on the DCLG website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/localregional/localgovernmentfinance/statistics/usefulinformation/formstimetable/otherforms/
	Once collected, checked and validated, the data are published in a statistical release that is published on the DCLG website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/localregional/localgovernmentfinance/statistics/pensionscheme/
	In addition, DCLG collect on behalf of HM Treasury, pension liability data as part of the Whole of Government Accounts data collection. The data are collected on Tab 11 of the Whole of Government Accounts form which is available on the DCLG website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/xls/l91922611112.xls

Mayors: Referendum

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the cost of holding referenda on directly elected mayors in each region.

Greg Clark: holding answer 6 February 2012
	My Department's impact assessment, ‘Localism Bill: creating executive mayors in the 12 largest English cities’, published in January 2011, showed that the total cost of holding mayoral referendums in England's largest cities is:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Birmingham 322,000 
			 Bradford 140,000 
			 Bristol 475,000 
			 Coventry 98,000 
			 Leeds 238,000 
			 Manchester 154,000 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 84,000 
			 Nottingham 300,000 
			 Sheffield 168,000 
			 Wakefield 112,000 
		
	
	These costs will be met by central Government, not the council.

Mobile Homes

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the guidance issued by his Department on the management of mobile home parks.

Grant Shapps: In 2008 the Department published guidance in the form of model standards for residential mobile homes parks which local authorities are required to have regard to in setting conditions in site licences that they issue. I am planning to consult in the spring on a range of measures to improve the effectiveness of the licensing regime by giving local authorities the powers to resource their functions and take enforcement action where licence conditions are breached. I shall also be consulting on improving residents' rights to ensure they are able to sell their homes in the open market and to reflect their status as home owners.

Mortgages: First-Time Buyers

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of potential first-time buyers unable to buy a newly-built home due to the level of deposit required by most mortgage lenders;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to ensure that newly-built homes are affordable; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the level of deposits required by mortgage lenders on affordability.

Grant Shapps: We estimate that there are around a million people, including 380,000 aspiring first-time buyers, who can afford mortgage repayments but are excluded from the housing market because they do not have a large enough deposit.
	That is why I have announced the NewBuy Guarantee Scheme which means that mortgages of up to 95% loan to value will be available for new build homes in England following a scheme launch next month. The scheme is designed to help up to 100,000 households.
	In addition, through FirstBuy, the Government and around 100 house builders will together provide £400 million to assist first-time buyers to purchase a new build property in England. The FirstBuy 20% equity loan can reduce the deposit needed by purchasers to just 5% and will help almost 10,500 aspiring home owners by spring 2013.
	We are also reinvigorating the right to buy—which has helped millions of people enjoy the benefits of home ownership—giving a new generation of tenants the opportunity to own their own home. The consultation, which closed on 2 February, gave details of our proposals to raise the upper limit on the right-to-buy discount entitlement to £50,000 across England. This is more than three times the current maximum cap in London and provides substantial increases in other areas. And significantly, for the first time, the additional receipts will be used to fund the delivery of new affordable rented homes on a one for one basis.
	Furthermore, I have hosted two first-time buyer summits bringing together leading figures representing house builders, lenders, insurers, local authorities and consumer groups to stimulate action and fresh thinking. Several innovative schemes to help first-time buyers have been announced by lenders and developers and there are more in the pipeline.
	Our approach to reducing the inherited and unprecedented UK deficit has also resulted in interest payments for mortgages that are currently the lowest as a proportion of total income since records began.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in Lancashire he expects to participate in the New Build indemnity scheme.

Grant Shapps: We have made provision to help up to 100,000 home buyers secure higher loan to value mortgages in England for new build properties. It will be for potential homebuyers in each local area to decide which mortgages and properties are right for them.

Non-domestic Rates: Uprating

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations he has received on increasing the uniform business rate by RPI in 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: We have received a number of representations from business organisations and individual businesses about the retail prices index increase for 2012-13.
	We are giving businesses the option of spreading the retail prices index increase for 2012-13 over the next three years. Businesses will be able to defer payment of 60% of the retail prices index increase in their 2012-13 rates bills until 2013-14 and 2014-15. This will give businesses flexibility to manage their rates bills in the current economic climate, help their cash flow, and give them time to adjust to the impact of inflation.
	We have also doubled small business rate relief for two and a half years (which will include the whole of 2012-13) benefiting about half a million ratepayers (with about a third of a million paying no rates at all for that period). In addition, we have also taken powers, through the Localism Act, to give local authorities powers to provide discounts on business rates bills as they see fit.

Planning Permission

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to publish the revised National Planning Policy Framework; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: holding answer 9 February 2012
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) on 14 November 2011, Official Report, columns 661-2W.

Race Relations

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in his Department were working on race equality (a) in May 2010 and (b) on the most recent date for which figures are available.

Andrew Stunell: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to PQ 94499 today on the Government's current position on tackling race inequalities.
	All staff working on my Department's policies and programmes contribute to addressing race inequalities though their day to day jobs.
	A total of 30 staff within DCLG's Decentralisation and Big Society Directorate currently work specifically on policies and exemplar projects on integration, of which tackling race inequalities forms an integral part. None of these projects was in place in May 2010.

Race Relations

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many invitations Ministers in his Department have received to external events focused on race equality since May 2010; and how many such events Ministers in his Department have attended.

Bob Neill: The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and his Ministerial team are from time to time invited to external events focussed on race equality. Details of all meetings held by Ministers with external organisations are published by the Department on a quarterly basis, and are available at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/transparency ingovernment/ministerialdata/
	Details of all invitations received since May 2010 are not readily available, and could be retrieved only at disproportionate cost.

Race Relations

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in his Department work on race equality.

Andrew Stunell: The Government are tackling race inequality through their single equality strategy, social mobility strategy, their integration policy and the major policies and programmes which are the responsibility of each Department.
	Each Department is responsible for addressing race inequalities in all aspects of its work, and for meeting its obligations under the Equality Act 2010. Local authorities, other public bodies, private sector and voluntary sector organisations also play an important role.
	In addition, a total of 30 staff within DCLG's Decentralisation and Big Society Directorate currently work specifically on policies and exemplar projects on integration, of which tackling race inequality forms an integral part.

Race Relations

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many speeches Ministers in his Department have made on race equality since May 2010.

Andrew Stunell: The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the right hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles), and his ministerial team have undertaken a number of speaking engagements on issues around integration and race equality. Details of all speeches, statements and articles are published by the Department and are available at:
	http://communities.gov.uk/corporate/newsroom/speeches statements/

Right to Buy Scheme

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what proportion of housing association tenants in England have (a) the right to buy and (b) preserved right to buy.

Grant Shapps: The Department does not hold this information.
	However, the Tenant Services Authority's Regulatory Statistical Return (which covers larger housing associations) estimates that about 8,000 tenants are eligible for the right to buy. This represents less than 1% of all housing association tenants.
	Additionally, the consultation on reinvigorating the right to buy and one for one replacement, published on 22 December, estimates that 620,000 tenants, having transferred in their homes from a local authority to a housing association, are currently eligible for the preserved right to buy. This represents around 25% of all housing association tenants.

Sustainable Communities Act 2007

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what powers he intends to devolve to parish and town councils through changes to the Sustainable Communities Act 2007; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether he plans to remove the duty to try and reach agreement in the Sustainable Communities Act 2007; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  when his Department plans to lay further regulations under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The Government are considering the scope of the regulations under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 following the consultation exercise conducted last year. We are aiming to make the regulations shortly. A summary of responses will be published in due course.

Sustainable Communities Act 2007

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he expects regulations to be made under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 to retain the duty on councils to try to reach agreement with local people when they produce proposals under that Act.

Greg Clark: The Government are considering the scope of the regulations under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 following the consultation exercise conducted last year. We are aiming to make the regulations shortly. A summary of responses will be published in due course.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the application made by Dorset county council for a grant towards the cost of establishing a Traveller transit site at Uddens in Dorset and his Department's decision letter on the application.

Bob Neill: The application in question was made under the Traveller Pitch Funding programme which is part of the 2011-15 Affordable Homes programme administered by the Homes and Communities Agency. I have arranged for copies of the relevant correspondence between Dorset county council and the Homes and Communities Agency to be placed in the Library of the House.

Urban Areas: Regeneration

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria he plans to use to assess town centres bidding to become Portas pilots.

Grant Shapps: The selection of Portas pilots will be based on the following criteria. These were set out in the prospectus published on 4 February, available on the DCLG website at:
	www.communities.gov.uk/documents/regeneration/pdf/2082386.pdf
	Mix—we are seeking pilot areas from a variety of high streets and town centres or smaller parades of shops, including market towns, villages, large towns, new towns, coastal towns and suburban areas.
	Strong leadership—we are looking for pilot areas with a transformational vision for their high street and the backing to make it a reality.
	Commitment—we are looking for pilot bids to demonstrate maximum commitment to the Town Team approach.
	Potential for improvement—resources will be allocated on a value for money basis. Therefore, areas must be able to demonstrate the potential for improvement.
	Innovation—we are looking for the most innovative ideas that will have maximum impact and could be replicated elsewhere.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport which arts organisations funded by the Arts Council that are in receipt of funding in 2010-11 will have lost that funding by the end of 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 9 February 2012
	There were 263 organisations that were regularly funded by Arts Council England (ACE) in 2010-11, who will not receive funding as National Portfolio organisations in 2012-13. The names of these organisations, their geographical region and art form have been supplied in a table by ACE which shall be deposited in both House libraries. There were 111 new organisations funded as National Portfolio organisations (2011-12) that were not regularly funded organisations (2010-11). Individual arts funding decisions are made independently of Government by ACE. This Government negotiated a substantial settlement for the arts in these times of economic constraint. In real terms, ACE's overall budget (including lottery) should still be less than 5% lower in 2014-15 than it was in 2010-11. While grant in aid, just one part of ACE's overall income, is being reduced, lottery income is very strong. Under latest projections, there should be over £200 million more for the arts over the next five years compared with September 2010 projections.

Broadband

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the conclusion of Ofcom’s sixth report of UK broadband speeds on differences in broadband between (a) the constituent parts and regions of the UK and (b) rural and urban areas.

Edward Vaizey: I welcome Ofcom’s report. Access to good levels of broadband speed for everyone is a priority for the Government, that is why we have allocated £530 million of funding to ensure that 90% of premises have access to superfast broadband, with at least standard broadband available to the remainder.

Broadband: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether the plan for the funding of broadband projects for Scotland is on target for completion by April 2012.

Edward Vaizey: The Government have allocated £530 million over the life of this Parliament to help stimulate private investment in mostly rural areas of the UK to extend the coverage of superfast broadband. The funding allocations to the Devolved Administrations were announced last summer and the Government have challenged them to match the Government's contributions from their own and other sources of funding. They will also have responsibility for managing projects for broadband delivery in their areas. The Scottish Government published 'Scotland's Digital Future—Infrastructure Action Plan' on 31 January 2012, which sets out the Scottish Government's commitment to produce a full procurement strategy by the end of March 2012.

Broadband: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he last held discussions with Ministers in the Scottish Government on the application for funding for broadband projects in Scotland.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), last met with Ministers in the Scottish Government in September 2011 and dialogue has continued since then at both ministerial and official levels.

Broadcasting

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will assess the effect of the retransmission fees charged to public service broadcasters by Sky on investment in UK content by public service broadcasters; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The issue of ‘retransmission fees’ paid by public service broadcasters to platforms such as BSkyB will be considered in the communications review Green Paper to be published early this year.

Clothing: Design

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent meetings he has had with representatives of the fashion industry; and what issues were discussed.

Edward Vaizey: A representative of the British Fashion Council was present at the Creative Industries Council meeting on 24 January, chaired jointly by the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable). The agenda covered priority areas common to all creative industries, ie skills, access to finance and digital business models. The Secretary of State has not otherwise met representatives of the fashion industry.

Diamond Jubilee 2012

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many letters he has received on Her Majesty the Queen's diamond jubilee in the last six months.

Hugh Robertson: The Department received 665 letters in the last six months about matters relating to Her Majesty the Queen's diamond jubilee.

Diamond Jubilee 2012

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had on Her Majesty the Queen's diamond jubilee celebrations.

Hugh Robertson: In the last six months the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has discussed Government support for the Queen's diamond jubilee celebrations with the royal household, ministerial colleagues and his officials.

Football

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many football matches he has attended in an official capacity since May 2010; and at how many such matches he was an official guest of a third party.

Jeremy Hunt: In the last 12 months I have attended seven football matches in an official capacity, as a guest of the home football club, or as a guest of the Football Association for national games.

Football: Clubs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what discussions he has had on the proposals on football governance of football supporters' clubs; and whether these proposals would (a) require clubs to hold discussions with supporters' groups and trusts and (b) enable supporters groups to attend annual general meetings.

Hugh Robertson: the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), and I have held several discussions with the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League since we published our response to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee football governance inquiry last October. In that response we called for the introduction of a new club licensing system that would include conditions to help supporters have a greater say in how their clubs are run.
	The football authorities are due to respond with their proposals to this and the other reforms we have called for by 29 February.

Libraries

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many libraries were (a) closed and (b) opened in each local authority area in each of the last five years.

Edward Vaizey: Data about the library sector are published annually by the Chartered institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and are available for the last five years. The Department supplements them by monitoring proposals about changes to library services across England through information gathered via correspondence, media coverage and from relevant bodies such as Arts Council England. It is difficult to get an accurate picture, as many local authorities are still developing and consulting on proposals and consequently the overall picture is always changing. While a definitive number is open to interpretation, we understand, from information we have gathered to date, that fewer than 50 static libraries ceased to be funded by their local authority between April and September 2011. Of these, responsibility for around a dozen libraries has been transferred away from the local authority and they remain open. Initial assessments also suggest around 40 libraries are being refurbished or are being opened—for example, large scale library building and improvement is happening in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Blackpool, and significant new builds have opened, for example in Southwark and Hertford.

Libraries

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  whether he considers that any library authority in the UK has reached the criteria for intervention by the Secretary of State under the provisions of the Libraries Act 1964; and according to what criteria he assesses the need for intervention;
	(2)  whether he considers the failure of a library authority to (a) consider equalities issues, (b) set out a coherent libraries strategy and (c) carry out an adequate assessment of local needs would form grounds for intervention by him under the provisions of the Libraries Act 1964.

Edward Vaizey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 26 January 2012, Official Report, columns 318-9W.

Local Broadcasting: Radio

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether he has had any discussions with the BBC Trust on the effect of changes in BBC local radio budgets on (a) staffing and (b) programming at BBC Radio Merseyside.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has not had any discussions with the BBC Trust on the effect of changes in BBC local radio budgets on BBC Radio Merseyside.
	The Secretary of State is aware of the BBC Trust’s interim findings—in which the trust has asked the BBC Executive to find ways to scale back the proposed changes to BBC local radio—and he is looking forward to learning of the trust’s final recommendations in due course.

Olympic Games 2012: Cycling

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what the cost to the public purse was of developing the Olympics bike track at Hadleigh Farm; and what assessment he has made of the potential legacy from the track.

Hugh Robertson: There has been no central Government funding spent on developing the Olympic bike track at Hadleigh Farm. An initial assessment of the Olympic Legacy benefits for all games venues, including Hadleigh Farm will be published in autumn 2012.

Olympic Games 2012: Interpreters

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  how many organisations tendered for the London 2012 Olympics interpretation contract awarded to Applied Language Solutions; which organisations were shortlisted; what the monetary value of their respective tenders was; what criteria were used to award contracts; and whether any other organisations were invited to submit a final tender;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library a copy of each document relating to the assessment of Applied Language Solutions' application for London 2012 Olympics interpretation contracts.

Hugh Robertson: Contracting for services and supply of goods to the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) is a matter for LOCOG, a private company operating independently of Government. The Department does not hold details of LOCOG's private procurement.

Olympic Games 2012: Tickets

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many London 2012 Olympics tickets have been allocated to (a) individuals and (b) organisations outside the online ticketing system.

Hugh Robertson: A total of 8.8 million Olympic tickets are available. 75% of these are available through the UK application process, primarily online but also via paper application in a Ticketing Guide. Of the remaining, 12% are purchased by the National Olympic Committees competing in the Games and include international sports fans from each country; 8% are for purchase by sponsors and stakeholders (global and domestic); and 5% are available for purchase by the International Olympic Committee, international federations and other global sports bodies represented at the games, international broadcast rights holders and prestige ticketing partners.

Olympic Games 2012: Tickets

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many London 2012 Olympics tickets have been allocated to (a) amateur sports clubs, (b) corporate sponsors and (c) international federations.

Hugh Robertson: The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has committed to make 75% of games tickets available through the UK application process. Members of amateur sports clubs are able to apply for tickets as part of this application process, alongside everyone else. After finalising its venue seating plans in April, LOCOG will ensure another 1 million tickets will be made available through that route. Tickets will be on sale until the start of each session, subject to availability. 8% of tickets are allocated for sponsors and stakeholders, and 5% for the International Olympic Committee, international federations and other global sports bodies.

Olympic Games 2012: Tickets

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many tickets for the London 2012 Olympics allocated to schools through the Get Set network have been taken up.

Hugh Robertson: Through its Ticketshare programme, the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) is allocating 175,000 tickets for eligible schools and colleges that have signed up to the Get Set Network—part of the official London 2012 education programme. Ticketshare is funded by a levy on prestige ticketing packages. Last week, LOCOG contacted each eligible school and college that applied, confirming the number of tickets that they will receive for their students. Next month they will confirm accompanying adult tickets that schools will also receive. LOCOG believes it will allocate all 175,000 tickets to schools and colleges, as planned.

Olympic Games 2012: Tickets

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport for what reasons tickets for the London 2012 Olympics are being printed by a company based in Arkansas.

Hugh Robertson: The main contract to print and fulfil the majority of tickets for London 2012 was awarded by the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) following a thorough, competitive and open procurement process in 2010. The company which won the bid met all of LOCOG’s criteria around security, scale and budget and—having worked on several previous games—has specialist systems in place to manage the complex process of personalising, printing, packaging tickets and integrating security aspects to the scale they require. Tickets sold after May will be printed in the UK—the printing and fulfilment of these tickets is on a smaller scale, and will be managed in a different way.

Olympic Games 2012: Yorkshire and the Humber

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps he is taking to raise participation in events connected with the London 2012 Olympics in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Hugh Robertson: The Government and the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) established the Nations and Regions Group (NRG) to promote UK-wide participation and to maximise the legacy from London 2012 beyond the Games themselves. This Group works directly with representatives from each of the devolved Administrations and English regions to realise the sporting, economic, and cultural benefits of the 2012 Games including the Olympic Torch relay. In addition, the Department part-funds a Creative Programmer in Yorkshire and the Humber specifically to support organisations wishing to participate in the Cultural Olympiad and Festival 2012. Examples of other steps taken to raise participation are as follows.
	As part of his regional tour, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), visited York in January to promote the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the region.
	The London 2012 Inspire programme recognises outstanding non-commercial projects and events inspired by the Games, sport, culture, education, sustainability, volunteering and business opportunities all feature. Over 2,100 projects have been awarded Inspire Marks including 165 in the Yorkshire and Humberside region. Also the London 2012 programme Get Set, helps schools and colleges make the most of the opportunities provided by the Games. Over 75% of the schools and colleges in the region are registered for the Get Set programme.
	The Olympic Torch will be in the region for six days taking in iconic landmarks and attractions such as the Humber Bridge, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Victoria Arcade in Leeds. It will also travel on the Flying Scotsman, and will be carried down the Dock Tower in Grimsby by an abseiler. In all, the Torch Relay will visit 78 towns, villages and cities in the region, including major evening celebrations in Hull (18 June), York (19 June), Leeds (24 June), Sheffield (25 June) and Cleethorpes (26 June).
	There have already been more than 19 locally funded and managed cultural projects in the region officially inspired by London 2012, including Electric Fields, a theatre and visual arts experience that includes audience movement, and combines sports and arts to explore our perception of how we move through the world and work with environmental themes. Other major cultural events are also planned for Yorkshire and the Humber in 2012, including a festival of music, dance and visual arts featuring more than 500 Sheffield performers, an art installation at Castle Howard and a performance of aerial circus skills and live song at Ripon Cathedral. LOCOG have created a search function to allow people to easily find out what events will be taking place in their area:
	http://www.london2012.com/get-involved/whats-on/
	and a specific website for the London 2012 Festival:
	http://festival.london2012.com/

Performing Arts: Young People

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to encourage young people to become involved in (a) drama and (b) acting.

Edward Vaizey: Arts Council England supports young people to become involved in drama and acting in a number of different ways. Goal 5 of their strategic vision for the arts for the next 10 years is that all children and young people experience the richness of the arts which includes taking part in art forms such as drama.118 National Portfolio Organisations stated in their funding applications that they would be delivering against this goal.
	Theatre companies such as Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre run large scale, highly successful programmes to engage young people. Arts Council England regularly funds a number of theatres whose vision and offer is entirely focused on children and young people such as Unicorn and Contact. The newly launched Strategic Fund for Touring includes a specific aim to fund a wide range of high quality work on tour including, in particular, more work by and for children and young people.

Postage Stamps

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with representatives from the philatelic industry on stamp collections.

Edward Vaizey: Neither the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), nor I have held any recent discussions specifically with representatives of the philatelic industry; however this Department continues to support the British Library that houses the National Philatelic Collections of the United Kingdom.

Public Libraries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to increase library usage.

Edward Vaizey: The Department has supported initiatives to assist local authorities in ensuring that libraries remain engaging, relevant and exciting in the 21st century. These include the Arts Council England's ‘Libraries Development Initiative’.
	We do not seek to impose or encourage a ‘one size fits all’ approach to attracting library users or specific targets on the numbers of visits to libraries; though overall levels of library visits have remained reasonably stable in the last year. Local authorities are best placed to assess the needs and wishes of local communities, and should be free to put in place the initiatives which are most relevant to local residents.

Public Libraries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent estimate he has made of the average number of people using a local library per month in each age group in the latest period for which figures are available.

Edward Vaizey: The Department's Taking Part quarterly release indicates demographic and regional breakdowns of physical library attendance. The most recent data is available in “Taking Part 2011/12 Quarter 2: Statistical Release—libraries” published on this Department's website:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/8734.aspx
	This link also contains “Taking Part 2011/12 Quarter 2: Statistical Release—Digital participation” that shows headline digital engagement figures, including digital participation in libraries.
	The Department and House subscribes to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's (CIPFA) annual library statistics, which include general data profiling the size and age of local populations by local authority.

Royal Family: Finance

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what the budget was for the royal household in each of the last five years; and what its budget is forecast to be in each of the next five years.

Hugh Robertson: This Department pays grant in aid to the royal household for property services for the occupied royal palaces in England and royal communications and information.
	The total amounts of grant in aid allocated to the royal household for these in each of the last five complete financial years and the current financial year are in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2006-07 15.745 
			 2007-08 16.221 
			 2008-09 16.504 
			 2009-10 15.530 
			 2010-11 15.054 
			 2011-12 15.054 
		
	
	From 2012-13, the Sovereign Grant will replace the civil list (paid direct from the Exchequer), and the voted grants in aid for royal travel and palace maintenance. In 2012-13 the Sovereign Grant will be £31 million. From 2013-14, the Sovereign Grant will be based on a formula related to the revenue of The Crown Estate. As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced in the House of Commons on 14 July 2011, Official Report, column 536,
	“.....a grant equivalent to 15% of the profits made by The Crown Estate in the financial year two years earlier”.
	Details about the royal household's expenditure can be found in the royal public finances annual reports,
	http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/Royalfinances/AnnualFinancialReports/Annualfinancialreports.aspx

S4C

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport for what reasons his Department did not issue a written ministerial statement regarding its consultation on S4C's governance arrangements; and what steps his Department is taking to promote participation in the consultation.

Edward Vaizey: On 1 February the Department opened a public consultation on proposals to amend S4Cs governance arrangements. The consultation is open until 4 May 2012. I did not make a written ministerial statement on this as the consultation is publicly available online at
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/consultations
	and my official's informed more than 50 key stakeholders in Parliament by e-mail when the consultation was published.

Tickets

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will take steps to prevent the resale of publicly-subsidised event tickets for profit.

Hugh Robertson: The Government have no current plans to extend existing legislation, covering the resale of tickets, including those that are publicly subsidised.

CABINET OFFICE

10 Downing Street: Catering

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what proportion of the (a) food and (b) drink served to its guests to 10 Downing street on official occasions is sourced from UK farmers, fisheries and food and drink manufacturers;
	(2)  whether his Department (a) has a policy or (b) provides guidance on the sourcing of (i) food and (ii) drink from UK farms, fisheries and food and drink manufacturers served to guests on official occasions at 10 Downing street.

Francis Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 1 December 2011, Official Report, column 1047W.

Advisory Services: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many applications he has received for (a) the Social Action Fund and (b) the Advice Services Fund; when he expects to announce recipients of funding from the Advice Services Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: For round one of the Social Action Fund the Social Investment Business (SIB) received just over 700 applications. Round two of the fund closed on 3 February 2012 and SIB are currently reviewing the applications that have been submitted. It is anticipated that the final figure for applications in round two will be around 600.
	The Advice Services Fund (ASF) received 622 applications. BIG FUND who is administering the £16.8 million ASF grant on behalf of the Cabinet Office sent out conditional offer letters to successful applicants at the end of January. A final list of successful applicants will be published on the BIG FUND website in March 2012.

Advisory Services: Finance

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent progress has been made on his Department's cross-Government review of advice funding.

Nick Hurd: The Cabinet Office review of the advice services, announced on the 21 November 2011, is currently in progress.
	Since November, Cabinet Office have been looking at the funding environment for free advice services, likely levels of demand, and how Government can play a positive role. The Cabinet Office is engaging with other Government Departments with a policy interest in free advice services.
	Over the past two months, Cabinet Office officials have been gathering information from the not-for-profit advice sector through a number of meetings, round table discussions and visits.
	The review will conclude with recommendations to Ministers and updates will be provided in due course.

Childbirth

Andrew George: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when (a) provisional and (b) final (i) live birth and (ii) stillbirth figures for 2011 will be published; and on what dates these figures were published in each of the last three years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking when (a) provisional and (b) final (i) live birth and (ii) stillbirth figures for 2011 will be published; and on what dates these figures were published in each of the last three years (95086).
	The Office for National Statistics is responsible for publishing statistics on the numbers of births registered in England and Wales.
	Final figures on live births and stillbirths for 2011 will be published in July 2012. Provisional annual births figures are no longer published.
	The dates when figures on live births and stillbirths were published for the last three years are shown in the following table. Provisional annual live birth figures have not been published since 2010 (for 2009 births). No provisional stillbirth figures have been published during this period.
	
		
			 Year of birth Date of publication of provisional figures Date of publication of final figures 
			  Live births Stillbirths Live births Stillbirths 
			 2008 21 May 2009 n/a 27 August 2009 2 September 2009 
			 2009 25 May 2010 n/a 21July2010 21 July 2010 
			 2010 n/a n/a 13 July 2011 13 July 2011

Communities First Fund

Robert Flello: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what right of appeal applies to local organisations which are refused funding by the Community First Programme’s local panel.

Nick Hurd: The decisions of the local Community First panels are final. The panels set the initial priorities for grant making in the eligible ward, based on what is already known about local issues and problems. Grant making decisions are then made in line with the identified priorities.
	The panels maintain a website that will detail the priorities, the grants made and to whom. Local people and groups have the opportunity to both shape the priorities and monitor how the money is allocated and spent. The panel is formed of local people and may include a councillor—all are visible and accountable to the people in their ward.
	Each panel must revisit these priorities by March 2013 by developing a Community First plan, involving the local community in this process. This provides an opportunity for all interested parties to make a contribution to shaping future funding decisions.

Community Development Fund

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he has taken to ensure transparency in the grants awarded by the Community Development Foundation.

Nick Hurd: holding answer 9 February 2012
	Community First is a small grants programme with a budget of up to £30 million over four years for funding to neighbourhood groups in targeted wards, and up to £80 million for an England-wide endowment match challenge.
	The small grants money is administered by the Community Development Foundation (CDF), but the grant award decisions are made separately by a panel of local people in the eligible ward. This ensures that responsibility for decisions is taken as close as possible to the community that the grants seek to serve. More information is available from the CDF website:
	http://www.cdf.org.uk/web/guest/neighbourhood-matched-fund
	The panel must maintain a website as a condition of the funding. This website is to be used to promote the programme and provide information to the community on funded projects and the groups that are getting grants. This provides an opportunity for more local people to get involved and also to make applications for project funding. The panel works with a local organisation as a panel partner, helping to ensure transparency and probity.

Company Finance

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many companies in each region had a turnover of over (a) £1 million, (b) £5 million and (c) £10 million in 2010-11.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many companies in each region had a turnover of over (a) £1 million, (b) £5 million and (c) £10 million in 2010-11.
	Annual statistics on the number of enterprises are available from the ONS release; UK Business: Activity, Size and Location at:
	www.statistics.gov.uk
	These estimates relate to the count of live businesses in March of each year.
	The table provides estimates for the number of companies in each region had a turnover of over (a) £1 million, (b) £5 million and (c) £10 million in 2010-11.
	
		
			 Count of VAT or PAYE based companies by region and turnover size band for 2010 and 2011 
			 Turnover (£ million) 
			  1<5 5<10 10 + Total 
			  2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 
			 North East 3,270 3,080 515 505 605 545 4,390 4,130 
			 North West 12,700 12,105 2,110 1,990 2,265 2,095 17,075 16,185 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 9,525 8,825 1,590 1,455 1,700 1,565 12,815 11,850 
			 East Midlands 8,725 8,235 1,350 1,195 1,455 1,400 11,530 10,830 
			 West Midlands 10,865 10,105 1,670 1,445 1,805 1,695 14,345 13,245 
			 East 13,085 12,290 1,985 1,850 2,225 2,130 17,295 16,270 
			 London 23,810 22,885 4,120 3,910 5,425 5,160 33,355 31,955 
			 South East 19,930 18,730 2,965 2,775 3,610 3,455 26,500 24,960 
			 South West 9,650 9,190 1,350 1,270 1,335 1,300 12,335 11,755 
			 Wales 4,005 3,830 620 565 630 590 5,255 4,985 
			 Scotland 7,825 7,365 1,325 1,245 1,485 1,385 10,635 9,995 
			 Northern Ireland 3,290 3,140 605 550 580 540 4,475 4,235 
			 Total 126,680 119,780 20,205 18,755 23,120 21,860 170,005 160,395

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office has not awarded or tendered for any contracts during 2011-12 which require the successful supplier to have a capital bond, and has no such contracts planned.

Departmental Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many away days his Department has held since May 2010; what the location was of each such away day; how many staff attended; and what the cost was of each such event.

Francis Maude: Details of events can be found in the following table. In all cases, staff are encouraged to use facilities on the Cabinet Office estate wherever possible, but in some cases it is more beneficial to hold events offsite and away from office distractions. There is a robust approvals process in place which requires sign-off at senior level in the Department's finance team. Expenditure is in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in “Managing Public Money” and the Treasury handbook on “Regularity & Propriety”.
	
		
			 Event Location Number of staff attending Cost (£) 
			 1 Cabinet Office Estate 13 0 
			 2 Cabinet Office Estate 14 102 
			 3 Cabinet Office Estate 30 395 
			 4 Cabinet Office Estate 70 500 
			 5 Cabinet Office Estate 21 105 
			 6 Cabinet Office Estate 16 80 
			 7 Cabinet Office Estate 15 29 
			 8 Cabinet Office Estate 17 555 
			 9 Institute for Government, London 10 386 
			 10 Wallacespace, London 12 1,252 
			 11 Charity and Social Enterprise organisation (Rich Mix) London 70 2,584 
			 12 Somerset House, London 55 470 
			 13 Social enterprise and charity support organisation (CAN Mezzanine) 10 110 
			 14 Somerset House, London 95 472 
			 15 Emmanuel Centre, London 60 2,500 
			 16 English Heritage (Kenwood House, London) 20 480 
			 17 Trafalgar Studios, London 6 0

Email: Department for Education

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 63W, if he will make an exception and publish the guidance issued to the Department for Education on private emails and the Freedom of Information Act, given the Secretary of State's reference to that guidance to the Education Select Committee.

Francis Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 6 February. I do not feel it would be appropriate to make an exception to this long standing convention.

Exports: EU Countries

Richard Shepherd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he plans to take to ensure that statistics on exports to the European Union published by the Office for National Statistics take account of trans-shipments to non-EU countries.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he plans to take to ensure that statistics on exports to the European Union published by the Office for National Statistics take account of trans-shipments to non-EU countries. 95241
	The Balance of Payments Trade in Goods data is produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using data provided by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). HMRC are responsible for capturing and collating both non-EU data, using customs declarations ('Extrastat'), and EU data, via the Intrastat survey.
	For UK exports both within and outside the European Union, the 'country of destination' is recorded on the relevant survey form as the final EU or Non-EU country the goods are destined for, even if the goods travel through other countries on the way. Therefore, goods which are exported via other Member States to non-EU countries should under EU Customs law be declared in the country of export, not the Member State from where they exit the EU. In the UK, they will be recorded as an export to the non-EU country of ultimate destination.
	However, goods may quite legitimately be shipped to an EU Member State and then subsequently re-exported to destinations outside the EU but be declared as a UK export to the EU. For example, following export from the UK, subsequent changes in ownership of the goods may result in the goods being re-exported to a non-EU country. These movements will be recorded as UK exports to the other EU Member State and as a further non-EU export from the first receiving country.

Government Departments: Procurement

Sajid Javid: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how small and medium-sized enterprises can find out about government contracts.

Francis Maude: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can find out about government contracts by using Contracts Finder, a one stop shop to enable suppliers to find procurement opportunities worth over £10,000, tender documents and contracts online, free of charge. Contracts Finder includes a facility whereby suppliers can indicate in which sectors and areas they are interested and they will receive e-mail notification of relevant opportunities free of charge. Contracts Finder can be found at:
	www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/
	For lower value Government contracts (below £100,000), SMEs since July 2011 have been able to register on the Dynamic Marketplace and provide quick quotes, enabling them to bid and compete at minimal cost alongside larger suppliers. The Dynamic Marketplace gives Government Departments, their agencies and NDPBs immediate, cost-effective access to pre-registered Government suppliers to publish bids for low value projects. Issuing and responding to bids is done electronically, making the procurement process quicker and more cost-effective. Registration is free to suppliers at:
	https://register4ukgov.procserveonline.com

Government Departments: Procurement

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether there is a minimum level of turnover a third sector organisation is required to have in order to bid for a Government contract.

Francis Maude: The Government recognise the vital role that third sector organisations have to play in helping them to achieve the best possible value for money when it buys goods and services, and has initiated a series of measures to make it easier for such bodies to compete for Government contracts, by removing unnecessary barriers such as inappropriate financial requirements.
	There is no standard minimum level of turnover required for a third sector organisation, turnover being just one indicator of a supplier’s financial status. The application of financial assessment should be proportionate to the value, size and risk of the requirement.

Identity Cards: Photography

Paul Beresford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when he plans to respond to the letter of 27 September 2011 and subsequent correspondence from the hon. Member for Mole Valley about the retention of the printed photo ID market; and if he will arrange a meeting to discuss the subject further.

Francis Maude: The letter was transferred to the Department for Transport in October 2011. A response was sent on 2 November 2011.

New Businesses: South East

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many small businesses have commenced trading in (a) Dartford constituency, (b) Kent and (c) the south-east in the last six months.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	.
	Annual statistics on the number of enterprise births within a calendar year are available from the ONS release on Business Demography at
	www.statistics.gov.uk
	However, these statistics are only available up to the calendar year 2010. The results for 2011 will be released on 6th December 2012.

Private Sector: Employment

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many private sector jobs were lost in the North East in 2011.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many private sector jobs were lost in the North East in 2011 (95442).
	Private sector employment statistics for local areas can be calculated from the Annual Population Survey (APS). Individuals in the APS are classified to the public or private sector according to their responses to the survey
	ONS is unable to measure the number of private sector jobs that have been lost in the North East. However, as an alternative have provided the net change in private sector employment in the North East between the 12 month APS periods ending in June 2010 and June 2011, which was an increase of 14,200.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Public Sector: Industrial Disputes

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking to avoid industrial action in the public sector.

Francis Maude: This Government have demonstrated that they are committed to working with trade unions in a meaningful and constructive way, to avoid industrial action wherever possible.
	Public services have highly-developed, robust contingency plans in place to ensure that essential services are maintained during industrial action. These plans are routinely tested to improve the resilience of public services.

Public Sector: Leave

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what arrangements exist for public sector workers to take (a) paid or (b) unpaid leave to support (i) cadet groups, (ii) scouts and (iii) other youth and community groups.

Nick Hurd: In February 2011 the Government announced that each civil servant would be encouraged to do at least one day of volunteering each year using special leave. The civil service aims to give 30,000 days per year. Some Government Departments offer their staff more than one day's special leave a year to volunteer. Civil servants can choose which organisations they volunteer with.
	Wider public sector organisations will have their own policies and procedures on employer supported volunteering.

Senior Civil Servants: Pay

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the net value has been of non-consolidated performance-related pay awards for senior civil servants in each Government Department since May 2010.

Francis Maude: Since May 2010, non-consolidated performance-related pay (NCPRP) for senior civil servants has been cut back. This has been achieved by reducing the number of people who receive awards from 65% to 25% of senior civil servants, so that only those who have given exceptional performance over the year are rewarded. This has delivered savings of around £15 million. Total spend by each Department and agency on NCPRP awards for the performance year 2010-11 was published on departmental websites and linked to data.gov.uk in October 2011.

Student Loans Company: Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the Cabinet Secretary became aware of the proposed arrangements for remunerating the Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company; and whether the Cabinet Secretary agreed to those arrangements.

Francis Maude: The former Cabinet Secretary was first notified of the proposed remuneration arrangements for the chief executive of the Student Loans Company in December 2010 and agreed to the proposals presented by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), subject to HMRC's agreement to extend their concession for the two year term which was later granted.
	The current Cabinet Secretary was made aware of this issue last week.

Vacancies

Simon Hart: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2012, Official Report, column 102W, on vacancies, what the practical difficulties were which the Office for National Statistics encountered in producing estimates of job vacancies for agriculture, fisheries and farming;
	(2)  whether any consideration has been given to producing the Office for National Statistics Vacancy Survey on a regional basis.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2012, Official Report, column 102W, on vacancies, what the practical difficulties were which the Office for National Statistics encountered in producing estimates of job vacancies for agriculture, fisheries and farming. (94677). Whether any consideration has been given to producing the Office for National Statistics Vacancy Survey on a regional basis. (94711)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces estimates of vacancies for the whole economy excluding agriculture, forestry and fishing.
	The main reason for the exclusion of vacancies for agriculture, forestry and fishing is because of the disproportionate additional compliance cost to business of data collection as these industry sectors mainly consist of very small firms (mostly with zero vacancies).
	Based on employment figures it is estimated by the ONS that this exclusion is likely to lead to an understatement of the overall vacancy figures in the UK of around 1 to 2 per cent.
	The ability to provide regional data would require a larger, more complex survey to be designed and developed. The likely barriers to implementation will be the cost to develop and run the survey and the additional burden that a survey of this type would place on businesses.
	As part of Triennial Review of the Vacancy Survey, we sought user's views on information they would require from the survey. Indications from latest responses suggest there is interest in estimates by regions. ONS will be investigating feasibility of producing vacancy estimates by regions whilst taking into account the cost and burden on businesses.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office for what reason he is no longer providing funding for a National Volunteer Service; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The Cabinet Office is not aware of and has never funded a programme specifically called the 'National Volunteer Service'.
	The Government are committed to supporting volunteering and are delivering programmes to create a stronger culture of volunteering in England. As outlined in the Giving White Paper published in May 2011 the Government are supporting volunteering through providing £40 million over two years for initiatives such as the Social Action Fund, Innovation in Giving Fund and the Challenge Prizes scheme.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many of those who participated in National Citizen Service pilots in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011 have continued to volunteer in their local community; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The National Citizen Service pilots began in 2011. There were no 2010 pilots. The information requested is being collected as part of the independent evaluation of the 2011 NCS pilots, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research. An interim report on the 2011 NCS pilots will be published in March 2012.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many children with a registered disability participated in the National Citizen Service scheme in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The National Citizen Service pilots began in 2011. There were no 2010 pilots. The information requested is being collected as part of the independent evaluation of the 2011 NCS pilots, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research. An interim report on the 2011 NCS pilots, including information on how many children with a registered disability participated in the National Citizen Service scheme, will be published in March 2012.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the (a) overall cost of the National Citizen Service (NCS), (b) cost to his Department of the NCS and (c) extra income that will be raised by providers to help pay for the NCS; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: Information on the overall cost of National Citizen Service (NCS) to the Cabinet Office in this spending review period is published as part of the quarterly data summary, on the Cabinet Office website. It can be viewed at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/business-plan-quarterly-data-summary
	Information about the extra income raised by providers is being collected as part of the independent evaluation of the 2011 NCS pilots, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research. An interim report on the 2011 NCS pilots will be published in March 2012.
	All providers raise extra funds to meet the forecast of NCS. The information requested is being collected as part of the independent evaluation of the 2011 NCS pilots, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research. An interim report on the 2011 NCS pilots, including information on the extra income that is raised by providers, to help pay for the NCS, will be published in March 2012.

JUSTICE

Homicide: British Nationals Abroad

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will provide funding for families of British nationals murdered abroad for the purpose of attending trials and related court hearings abroad.

Crispin Blunt: The Ministry of Justice funds the National Homicide Service to support families bereaved by homicide post-April 2010. Since November 2010 this support has also been extended to families bereaved by a murder or manslaughter abroad. In the current financial year the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has provided funding to enable the Homicide Service to commission services on behalf of families, if they judge that the family needs them, in recognition of the exceptional and additional costs they might face following a murder abroad. This may include travel to attend trials and related court hearings.

Alternatives to Prison

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on future tendering for the running of intensive alternative to custody schemes.

Crispin Blunt: The Intensive Alternatives to Custody (IAC) pilot programme ran from 2008-09 to 2010/11 and there were never plans to extend central funding for IAC past the end of the pilot. Learning from the evaluation of these pilots will be considered to inform future commissioning and delivery of offender services.

Appeals: Disability Living Allowance

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average waiting time for a disability living allowance appeal to be heard was in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) East Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and Humber in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The table shows the average waiting time in weeks for an appeal against a disability living allowance decision from receipt at HM Courts and Tribunals Service to disposal from April 2007 to October 2011 (the latest period for which statistics have been published) in the tribunal venues serving Yorkshire and Humber.
	The Doncaster and Hull venues serve appellants living in the Haltemprice and Howden constituency as well as other nearby locations; the Doncaster, Grimsby and Hull venues serve appellants living in East Yorkshire and the surrounding area.
	The figures provided in the table include cases that were decided by a tribunal hearing and those that were disposed of by other means (such as being withdrawn, superseded or struck out).
	
		
			 Disability living allowance appeals 
			  Average waiting times in weeks 
			  2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 YTD October 2011 
			 Barnsley 9.0 10.9 12.4 18.8 24.3 
			 Bradford 10.7 12.0 12.2 19.7 28.2 
			 Doncaster 9.2 11.9 12.2 21.0 28.1 
		
	
	
		
			 Grimsby 7.6 16.1 17.0 23.4 28.6 
			 Huddersfield and Wakefield 11.1 12.1 13.4 21.3 28.3 
			 Hull 10.4 12.4 14.2 22.3 27.5 
			 Leeds 10.0 11.6 11.3 16.0 20.2 
			 Scarborough 10.2 12.9 12.4 21.2 29.5 
			 Sheffield 8.9 12.0 13.2 20.6 30.6 
			 York 9.9 9.4 10.7 16.9 26.0 
			 Notes: 1. Data is taken from management information. 2. Individual cases can have a disproportionate impact on the overall data at venue level due to the relatively low volumes involved.

Asylum and Immigration Tribunal

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many asylum and immigration-related cases were heard in the (a) first Tier of the Tribunal's Immigration and Asylum Chamber, (b) upper Tier of the Tribunal's Immigration and Asylum Chamber, (c) Administrative Court and (d) Courts of Appeal in England and Wales or the Court of Sessions in Scotland in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Jonathan Djanogly: The First-Tier of the Tribunal's Immigration and Asylum Chamber heard 130,900 cases between April 2010 and March 2011; this includes appeals determined on the papers but excludes withdrawn cases.
	The Upper Tier of the Tribunal's Immigration and Asylum Chamber heard 6,700 cases between April 2010 and March 2011; this includes appeals determined on the papers but excludes withdrawn cases.
	The Administrative Court received 8,076 Immigration and Asylum applications between April 2010 and March 2011, all of which went before a judge for a decision. In addition, the court held 156 substantive hearings for immigration and asylum cases over this period.
	The Immigration and Asylum Chamber covers the whole of the United Kingdom. The Administrative Court and Court of Appeal Civil Division cover appeals from England and Wales. Appeals from tribunals in Scotland are dealt with by the Court of Session, part of the Scottish Courts Service.
	The Court of Appeal Civil Division asylum and immigration related cases are set out in the following table. I will write separately in response to your request for information relating to the Court of Session in Scotland.
	
		
			  Number of asylum and immigration related cases heard between April 2010 and March 2011 in the Court of Appeal 
			 Total number of permission applications determined on paper 642 
			 Total number of permission applications determined at oral hearing (most of these will have been refused on paper first, so there is a duplication with the 642 figure) 234 
			 Total number of full appeals heard 101 
		
	
	The table includes statutory appeals from the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber and appeals from the Administrative Court in immigration and asylum judicial review cases.

British Nationals Abroad: Death

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many open coroners' cases involve the death of UK nationals overseas.

Jonathan Djanogly: Coroners are required to provide a statistical return at the end of each year with the number of inquests ongoing as at 31 December arising from deaths outside England and Wales.
	The number outstanding at the end of each year in the last four years for which figures are available were:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2007 621 
			 2008 618 
			 2009 570 
			 2010 577 
		
	
	However, these figures only reflect the number of those who died abroad whose bodies have been repatriated to a coroner's jurisdiction in England and Wales. Some deceased persons, therefore, may be non-UK nationals but these cannot be segregated from the UK nationals.

British Nationals Abroad: Death

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many coroners’ cases involving non-UK companies could not be completed due to non-attendance of witnesses from overseas in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 693W. Information about the number of coroners’ cases that cannot be completed due to non-attendance of witnesses (including companies) that are outside of the UK’s jurisdiction is not centrally held.

Civil Disorder

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has issued any guidance to the courts handling the cases relating to the public disorder of August 2011 on issuing convicted offenders with compensation orders.

Jonathan Djanogly: No guidance has been issued on the making of compensation orders in cases relating to the public disorder of August 2011. The Sentencing Council provides guidelines for the Crown and magistrates courts. Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts, taking account of all the circumstances of the offender and the offence.

Coroners: Missing Persons

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has given consideration to directing a coroner to hold an inquest in the absence of a body, under the provisions of section 15 of the Coroners Act 1988, into the disappearance of Rebecca Coriam on-board the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship on 22 March 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: Section 15 of the Coroners Act 1988 enables a coroner in England and Wales to report the facts to the Secretary of State if the coroner has reason to believe that a death has occurred in or near their district and that an inquest ought to be held, but there is no body. Because Rebecca Coriam disappeared outside of the jurisdiction of England and Wales during a voyage off the Pacific coast of Mexico, no coroner could make a report under section 15.

Departmental Data Protection

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases of (a) data loss and (b) breaches of confidentiality occurred in his Department in 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: There were 3,192 incidents involving information assets in 2011. This figure includes losses of data or the equipment holding it and incidents with the potential for breach of confidentiality. Of these, three were assessed as significant and were reported to the Information Commissioner.
	2,606 of these incidents relate to individual cases of lost or misdirected mail. Data lost in 251 incidents involved official equipment subject to protection by encryption.
	It is not possible to identify how many incidents involved breaches of confidentiality. This information is recorded locally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

E-mail

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to encourage the use of e-mail in preference to printed correspondence for communications between his Department and hon. Members.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice has an e-mail address to which hon. Members can write. Currently replies are only sent by e-mail where an hon. Member requests this.

European Social Fund

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding from the European Social Fund was used to support offenders in each of the last five years; and how much he expects to be provided in each of the next five years.

Crispin Blunt: The majority of ESF money administered by NOMS in England comes via the Co-Financing Programme. NOMS was granted Co-Financing status in early 2009 part way through the 2007 to 2013 ESF programme. Therefore there was no ESF expenditure for 2007 and 2008 and only a relatively small amount in 2009. The chart provided as follows details actual expenditure for 2009, 2010 and 2011. 2012 through to 2014 are based on current profiles for contracted provision. It is difficult to estimate expenditure beyond this date as negotiations for the 2014 to 2020 programme are still taking place at ministerial level.
	
		
			  ESF Funds for offender support (£) 
			 2009 382,611 
			 2010 22,498,900 
			 2011 39,945,308 
			 2012 34,345,091 
			 2013 22,635,522 
			 2014 24,221,745

European Social Fund

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what funding from the European Social Fund has been made available to support victims of crime in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: ESF money is not allocated for this purpose by ESFD and therefore not available for NOMS to use in the current Co-financing programme.

HMP Risley: Finance

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what funding in each category of expenditure his Department provided to HMP Risley in each financial year from 2008-09 to 2011-12.

Crispin Blunt: The following table shows direct resource outturn expenditure figures for HMP Risley for the financial years 2008-09 to 2010-11 broken down by category of expenditure. The outturn figures more accurately represent the cost of providing services for prior years. For 2011-12 the latest forecast outturn expenditure figures are shown as at January 2012. The final figures for 2011-12 may vary from the figures provided depending on the actual expenditure incurred over the remainder of the financial year and also if there are any amendments due to changing priorities.
	
		
			 Category of expenditure at HMP Risley in each financial year from 2008-09 to 2011-12 
			 Cost category 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Staff cost—wages and salaries 15.945 16.182 16.133 15.808 
			 Staff travel and other 0.499 0.309 0.302 0.253 
		
	
	
		
			 Agency staff 0.067 0.029 0.023 0.047 
			 Banking and financing charges 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 
			 Cost of capital 0.024 0.030 0.000 0.000 
			 Depreciation 0.058 0.062 0.139 0.146 
			 Fuel and utilities 0.814 0.933 0.848 1.060 
			 IT and communications 0.598 0.550 0.555 0.506 
			 Maintenance 0.649 0.418 0.511 0.355 
			 Other contracted out services 0.838 1.105 0.856 0.785 
			 Other property costs 0.120 0.109 0.089 0.066 
			 Printing postage office exp 0.092 0.105 0.089 0.085 
			 Prisoner related costs 1.866 2.368 2.227 2.201 
			 Profit/loss on disposal of fixed assets 0.037 0.001 0.002 0.000 
			 Property rent and rates 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 
			 Other expenditure 1.596 0.508 0.354 0.244 
			 Other income -0.540 -1.074 -1.284 -1.427 
			 Total 22.665 21.637 20.846 20.132 
			 Notes: 1. All figures expressed in £ million. 2. 2008-09 to 2010-11 based on direct resource expenditure at the establishment, as published in the addendum to the accounts. This excludes expenditure met at regional or national level. 2011-12 data are based on forecast outturn as at accounting period 10.

Homicide: Compensation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons there was a £40,000 underspend in the Homicide Fund budget; how this underspend is to be distributed; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: £40,728.87 of the £250,000 2011-12 Homicide Fund was unallocated due to bids not meeting the required minimum standards set for the fund. As recommended by the Victims' Commissioner, the under spend was divided between:
	a capacity building project designed to improve the capacity, and robustness of peer support organisations with the aim of improving their success rate in attracting funding. Fifteen small homicide organisations are benefitting from this project; and
	piloting improvements in access to specialist legal advice for bereaved families.

Human Trafficking

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions there were for offences related to human trafficking in each year since 2004.

Crispin Blunt: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for human trafficking in England and Wales, from 2004 to 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
	Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May 2012.
	
		
			 Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for human trafficking offences (1) , England and Wales, 2004-10 (2, 3) 
			  Number found guilty 
			 2004 — 
			 2005 12 
			 2006 21 
			 2007 23 
			 2008(4) 24 
			 2009 25 
			 2010 16 
			 (1) Includes offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (came into force 1 May 2004) and Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants Act) 2004 section 4 (came into force 1 December 2004). (2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services: Ministry of Justice.

Human Trafficking: Victim Support Schemes

Claire Perry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) nationality and (b) gender was of each suspected victim of trafficking referred to the Trafficking Victim Support scheme operated by the Salvation Army in January 2012; in which region each of the suspected victims was found; and which agency referred each case to the scheme.

Crispin Blunt: In January 2012 there were 27 referrals to the Government-funded support service for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales administered by The Salvation Army. Details are provided in the following table. In the interests of victim safety the region in which the victim was encountered is provided rather than the parliamentary constituency.
	
		
			 Nationality Gender Region Referring Organisation 
			 Nigerian Female South East NGO 
			 Czech Female Yorkshire Local authority 
			 Polish Male North East NGO 
			 UK Male East Police 
			 Nigerian Female South West UKBA 
		
	
	
		
			 Albanian Female South East NGO 
			 Albanian Female Yorkshire UKBA 
			 Polish Male North East NGO 
			 Polish Male North East NGO 
			 Ugandan Female South East NHS 
			 Polish Male West Midlands NGO 
			 Albanian Male Yorkshire UKBA 
			 Polish Male South East Police 
			 Thai Female South West NGO 
			 Polish Male West Midlands NGO 
			 Polish Male West Midlands NGO 
			 Chinese Female West Midlands UKBA 
			 Chinese Female South East Social services 
			 Pakistani Female North West UKBA 
			 Bangladeshi Male West Midlands UKBA 
			 Albanian Female Yorkshire UKBA 
			 Nigerian Female North West Social services 
			 Cameroon Female East UKBA 
			 Hungarian Male East Midlands Police 
			 Hungarian Female East Midlands Police 
			 Hungarian Male Yorkshire Police 
			 Hungarian Male Yorkshire Police

Legal Aid Scheme

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent from the public purse on support for legal costs for victims of crime and witnesses in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: In a common law system victims do not have the legal status of a party to criminal proceedings and the provision of legal aid to enable participation in criminal proceedings is therefore not relevant.
	The Ministry of Justice (MOJ), and formerly the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA), has funded the costs of legal advice to families bereaved by homicide.
	The DCA trialled the provision of legal advice as part of the wider Victims Advocates Scheme pilots (to explore how the criminal justice system can improve the support and information available to families in murder and manslaughter cases, and to give them a voice in court) which were completed in 2008. The evaluation recommended that access to free legal advice be made available nationally to families bereaved by homicide.
	The MOJ funds the National Homicide Service to support families bereaved by homicide since April 2010. As part of this service, families have access to a free legal advice helpline that provides advice on issues such as probate, employment and state benefits that may arise from their loss.
	The spend on this legal advice for families bereaved by homicide for the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Spend (£) 
			 2007-08 (1)3,809.88 
			 2008-09 (1)1,533.37 
			 2009-10 (2)1,252.75 
			 2010-11 (3)6,455.75 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 (4)24,826.90 
			 (1) Legal advice costs as part of the Victims Advocates Scheme pilots. (2 )Costs (excluding VAT) of piloting the legal advice helpline prior to the establishment of the Homicide Service to bereaved families. (3 )Excluding VAT. (4) Spend on the legal advice helpline (excluding VAT) up until 31 January 2012. Also includes £20,000 to pilot additional legal support for bereaved families as recommended by the Victims' Commissioner in her report “Review into the Needs of Families Bereaved by Homicide” (July 2011).

Legislation

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation has been repealed since May 2010.

Jonathan Djanogly: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	However, the Government remain committed to the repeal of unnecessary legislation—particularly that which imposes excessive burdens on business, individuals and public bodies. Legislation to deliver this commitment will be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time permits.

Magistrates Courts: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans his Department has for (a) the magistrates' court house in Ammanford and (b) the remainder of its estate in Wales.

Jonathan Djanogly: Ammanford magistrates court closed in December 2011. Terms have been agreed for sale of the court, subject to contract.
	As part of the work to develop its future strategy, HMCTS is reviewing its hearing estate presence across England and Wales. Our aim is to achieve an estate of appropriate capacity to meet business need, which is also efficient and less costly to run.

Manoucehr Bahmanzadeh

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2012, Official Report, columns 361-2W, on Manoucehr Bahmanzadeh, whether or not the monies levied were paid directly to the Crown Prosecution Service or into another account.

Crispin Blunt: The confiscation order of £1 million in the name of Manoucehr Bahmanzadeh was paid in full, plus an additional £19,978 of accrued interest for late payment. The bulk of the assets were held in Jersey outside of the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Therefore £950,730 was enforced by Jersey within their jurisdiction and that amount was retained in full by them. The remaining £69,248 was accounted for by HMCTS and forwarded to the Home Office. Under the Asset Recovery Incentive Scheme the CPS as the Prosecution Agency would retain 18.75% of the £69,248, which equates to £12,984.

Offenders: Mental Health Services

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding his Department has provided for counselling services for offenders in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: Counselling is provided to offenders in a number of ways and for a number of different reasons in both a custodial and community setting. This might be provided by prison chaplains or organisations such as Alcoholics Anonymous. The type and volume of such counselling is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost by obtaining highly complex information held on offender files, or in local and national data systems, validating it, collating it in a common format in order to provide a response.

Offenders: Research

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what grants his Department has provided to third sector organisations to undertake research into offender and prisoner rehabilitation in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: In 2009-10 and 2010-11, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS: an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice) paid a grant to the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (Nacro). It included £610,000 per annum for provision of advice and support to REAG (then the Race Equality Action Group), and generic resettlement support. As part of this grant payment, Nacro produced a number of social research papers: mainly focusing on the needs of women with disabilities, the needs of women offenders who had been involved in prostitution, the needs of older women, and research focusing on offender accommodation.
	The Ministry of Justice funds the vast majority of its research via contracts through a competitive tendering process, rather than grants. These contracts span a wide range of providers including academia, private sector, non-profit and voluntary sector organisations.

Prison: Employment Schemes

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners worked in prison industries in (a) general packing and assembly, (b) laundry, (c) assembly of electrical components, (d) general recycling, (e) printing, (f) repacking food products, (g) data entry and (h) recycling of airline headsets in 2011.

Crispin Blunt: Our latest estimate (2010-11) is that, for the activities described, the following numbers of prisoners worked in NOMS public sector prisons in England and Wales:
	
		
			 Type of activity Approximate number of prisoners working (1) 
			 (a) General packing and assembly 2,420 
			 (b) Laundry 810 
			 (c) Assembly of electrical components (2)— 
		
	
	
		
			 (d) General recycling (3)980 
			 (e) Printing 360 
			 (f) Repacking food products (2)— 
			 (g) Data entry 70 
			 (h) Recycling of airline headsets (2)110 
			 (1) This data has been extracted from IT systems and assumes that all transactions have been allocated and recorded correctly. As with any large-scale recording system, information is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. (2) Included in (a) above. (3) Relates to the management, reuse and recycling of prison generated waste and not generally included as part of the prison industry function. 
		
	
	In total about 9,000 prisoners per day currently work in NOMS public sector prison industries in over 400 workshops and about a further 1,000 work in private sector prison industries, representing a wide range of activities including, in addition to those listed above, furniture and textile manufacturing, engineering and land based activities.
	Prisons also partly run on prison labour. These activities include about 4,400 prisoners working in catering and picking and packing services. In addition significant numbers of prisoners are involved in areas such as cleaning and maintenance—as these jobs are local to each prison numbers are not collated centrally.

Prison: Employment Schemes

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what proportion of prisoners working in prison industries received an accredited qualification at (a) entry level, (b) level one, (c) level two and (d) level three or above in 2011;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of prison industries on (a) learning, (b) employability and (c) re-offending outcomes.

Crispin Blunt: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not collect this information.
	This Government recognise the importance of learning, skills and employment in supporting prisoners to improve employment and reducing reoffending outcomes for offenders. Prison industry provides a regular working week and real work experience that develops discipline, a work structure and the habits necessary to gain employment upon release. No data are available to indicate the particular effect of prison industries on reducing reoffending, although research(1) shows that employment in general reduces reoffending.
	(1 )Lipsey. M, Cook. T et al (1992) “Meta-analysis for explanation: a casebook”, Russell Sage Foundation, New York,

Prison: Employment Schemes

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what accredited qualifications prisoners can obtain whilst working in prison industries at (a) entry level, (b) level one, (c) level two and (d) level three or above.

Crispin Blunt: Prisoners working in prison industries can work towards sector specific qualifications. Qualifications delivered are on the Qualification Credit Framework which accredits the achievement of learning through the award of units and qualifications.
	NOMS created an Offender Qualifications Manual that lists various employment sectors available in prison with recommended qualifications and progression opportunities that can be accessed for prisoners and for staff continuous professional development.
	New offender learning delivery arrangements being put in place now as a result of the strategy set out in “Making Prisons Work: Skills for Rehabilitation” will give prison governors significantly greater control over the curriculum delivered in their establishments, including 'on the job' training in prison industries to deliver vocational qualifications.

Prisoner Escorts

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans his Department has to maintain and improve the reliability of security measures when transporting high-security inmates between prisons and court.

Crispin Blunt: Effective security measures are in place for the transport of highest-risk prisoners. There has only been one category A escape in the last 16 years. The circumstances of that escape, which took place on 23 January this year, are currently subject to investigation. It is my expectation that the investigation report will include detailed recommendations on how these already effective security measures might be further strengthened.

Prisoners’ Release

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders who were recalled to prison for licence breaches (a) served all of the remainder of their sentence in custody and (b) served part of the remainder of their sentence in custody prior to being released in the latest period for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: There were 4,353 recalls recorded between July and September 2011. These figures were published in Ministry of Justice's Offender Management Statistics quarterly bulletin on 26 January 2012:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/statistics-and-data/prisons-and-probation/oms-quarterly.htm
	Depending on the sentence type and/or nature of his offence(s), an offender recalled may be subject to a fixed term recall. The recall period is fixed at 28 days. There were 1,194 offenders recalled to serve a fixed term recall between July and September 2011, and by now all of these prisoners will have been re-released.
	For other determinate sentence prisoners, recall can result in detention until the expiry of their sentence. In such cases, following recall and once the offender has been apprehended and returned to custody, the case must be referred to the Parole Board within 28 days. The board will consider whether the prisoner can be safely re-released into the community and may either (i) order the prisoner's immediate re-release; (ii) set a future re-release date; or (iii) fix a date for the next review of the prisoner's case.
	The Secretary of State also has the statutory power to re-release a recalled determinate sentence prisoner (other than those serving an extended sentence) if he considers that it is safe to do so.
	It is not possible to provide data on how many determinate sentence prisoners recalled to custody served the whole of their custodial sentence in prison and how many were re-released back onto licence. This is because all individual recall records would need to be checked to establish how many prisoners fell into each of the above categories. This would incur disproportionate cost.
	Where an offender has been released onto the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme and has been recalled either for breach of their curfew conditions or because it was no longer possible to monitor their curfew compliance, he is required to complete the remainder of the HDC period in custody (ie until the halfway point of the sentence). Any such offender is re-released to serve the remainder of his sentence in the community.
	There were 60 indeterminate sentenced prisoners (ISPs) recalled in the same period. As these prisoners are on life or Imprisonment for Public Protection licence, they can potentially be held for an indefinite period unless the Parole Board is satisfied they can be safely re-released. Of the 60 ISPs recalled in the most recent quarterly period, 56 were still in custody on 31 December 2011.

Prisoners: Detention

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much compensation for unlawful detention was paid to prisoners in England and Wales in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011; and how many individuals received such payments.

Crispin Blunt: Compensation figures are recorded in financial years. In 2010-11 53 unlawful detention claims from prisoners were settled for a total of £283,509. Figures for 2011-12 will be collated at the end of the financial year.

Prisoners: Suicide

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the date of first reception into custody was for each prisoner who committed suicide in custody in England and Wales in 2011; and what the length of sentence was for each such prisoner who had been sentenced.

Crispin Blunt: On 1 January the Ministry of Justice announced that there had been 57 apparent self inflicted deaths in 2011. A fuller picture on deaths is provided in the annual Safety in Custody bulletin which is produced by the National Offender Management Service and the Ministry of Justice. This publication covers deaths, self-harm and assaults among prisoners in custody; and contains statistics relating to self-inflicted deaths in custody from 2001 in England and Wales. The 2011 bulletin will be published on 24 July 2012.

Prisons: Discipline

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to his Department's Strategy for Victims and Witnesses, if he will consider introducing measures to enable victims of crime to be informed of the disciplinary records of offenders while in custody (a) where the offender has been subject to disciplinary action for making unauthorised contact with media outlets and (b) in all cases.

Crispin Blunt: There is no specific entitlement for victims, witnesses or their families to be informed of the disciplinary records of individual prisoners. There are no plans to change this. Disciplinary hearings are not public hearings; they are undertaken in compliance with prison and young offender institution rules to maintain order in prisons.
	However, if a victim or witness believes there is a need for he or she to be informed of the disciplinary record of a specific prisoner he or she may request disclosure of the information. This would be considered, in the normal way, and responded to in accordance with the Ministry of Justice's obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998.
	Regarding the release of disciplinary records in all cases, I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 28 June 2011, Official Report, column 712W.

Prisons: Manpower

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the (a) effect on the safety of prisoners and staff and (b) changes in working practices which may be necessary if prison officers are required to work until the age of 68.

Crispin Blunt: The Prison Officers' Association is involved in ongoing discussions with the Cabinet Office around pension arrangements for prison officers, which includes consideration of the appropriate retirement age for prison officers.
	In respect of people in their sixties working in prisons, safe systems of work and health and safety assessments are in place across the prison estate to ensure that staff and prisoners are in an environment that is as safe as possible.
	NOMS's operational security policies on issues such as use of force and escorts which involve, or have the potential to involve, physical intervention on the part of staff will be reviewed once the arrangements for prison officers' pension age have been announced.

Prisons: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what use his Department has made of mindfulness-based techniques for (a) reducing stress and (b) improving well-being among prison staff.

Crispin Blunt: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not use mindfulness-based techniques for reducing stress or improving well-being among prison staff.
	NOMS has adopted the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) ‘Stress Management Standards’ approach for the assessment and management of work-related stress. The focus of these standards is the prevention, rather than treatment, of stress and the implementation of organisational level solutions.
	NOMS improves well-being among prison staff in a variety of ways, including self referral to Workplace Support, referral to Occupational Health (which may lead to onward referral to specialist therapy) and through the implementation of the HSE's Stress Management Standards. ‘Well-being days’ are also delivered to public sector prisons and other NOMS' workplaces. Staff may attend these well-being days and have physical health checks including measurements of height, weight, cholesterol levels and hydration levels.

Prostitution

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions there were for (a) soliciting for the purposes of prostitution in a public place, (b) keeping a brothel and (c) control of prostitution in respect of offences committed in each London borough in financial year (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11; and what the equivalent figure is for 2011-12 to date.

Crispin Blunt: The number of defendants found guilty of offences related to prostitution at all courts in Greater London, for 2009 and 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
	Centrally held court proceedings data are not available at London borough level, thus data for Greater London (including the City of London and Metropolitan police force areas) have been provided in lieu.
	Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May, 2012.
	
		
			 Number of defendants found guilty of offences related to prostitution at all courts in the Greater London (1)  police force area, 2009 and 2010 (2,3) 
			 Offence (4) 2009 2010 
			 Soliciting for the purposes of prostitution in a public place 65 92 
			 Keeping a brothel 15 18 
			 Control of prostitution 4 9 
			 (1) Comprises the Metropolitan end City of London police force areas. (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Includes the following statutes and corresponding offence descriptions: Soliciting for the purposes of prostitution in a public place: Sexual Offences Act 1985, S.1 Common prostitute loitering or soliciting for the purpose of prostitution Sexual Offences Act 2003, S.51 A Solicit another for the purpose of obtaining their sexual services as a prostitute in a street/public place Keeping a brothel: Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.33A as added by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.55 Keeping a brothel for prostitution Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.33 Keeping a brothel Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.34 Letting premises for use as a brothel Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.35 Tenant permitting premises to be used as a brothel Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.36 Tenant permitting premises to be used for prostitution Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.33 as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1967 Keeping a brothel for homosexual practices Sexual Offences Act 1956 s.34 Letting premises for use as a brothel for homosexual practices Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.35 as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.53 Tenant permitting premises to be used as a brothel for homosexual practices Similar provisions in Local Acts Other offences against keeping a brothel Control of prostitution: Sexual Offences Act 2001 s.53 Controlling prostitution for gain Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services

Protection of Children Act 1978

Claire Perry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were (a) proceeded against, (b) cautioned and (c) convicted for offences under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978 in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: The number of people who were (a) proceeded against, (b)cautioned and (c) convicted for offences under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978 in each year between 2006 and 2010 (latest currently available) can be viewed in the following table.
	Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May 2012.
	
		
			 Offenders cautioned (1) , () defendants proceeded against (2)  at magistrates courts and offenders found guilty (3)  at all courts in England and Wales for offences under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act (4) , 2006 to 2010 
			 Offence and final outcome 2006 2007 2008 (5) 2009 2010 
			 Take, permit to take or distribute indecent photograph of a child etc.      
			 Outcome:      
			 Cautioned 168 185 178 187 155 
			 Proceeded against 937 888 1,136 1,240 1,501 
			 Found guilty 768 782 958 1,024 1,246 
			 (1) The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1938 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) The number of defendants found guilty in a particular year may exceed the number proceeded against as the proceedings in the magistrates court took place in an earlier year and the defendants were found guilty at the Crown court in the following year; or the defendants were found guilty of a different offence to that for which they were originally proceeded against. (4) Offences under the Protection of Children Act 1978, section 1 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 84 and Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 s.41(1) includes the following offences: 1(1)(a) Take an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child. 1(1)(a) Permit the taking of an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child. 1(1)(b) Distribute an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child. Attempt to distribute an indecent photograph /pseudo-photograph of a child. 1(1)(b) Show an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child. 1(1)(c) Possess an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child for distribution. 1(1)(d) Advertise an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child. 1(1)(d) Cause an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child to be advertised. 1(1)(a) Make an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child. (5) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Public Expenditure

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what underspends were identified in the budgets of his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last three years; and for what reasons;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the extent of any underspend in the budgets of his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in 2011-12; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for any such underspend.

Jonathan Djanogly: To provide information on all underspends incurred in the previous three years to the level of detail requested would incur disproportionate cost. However, details of expenditure against budgets for the Department and its non-departmental public bodies are given in our annual resource accounts which are laid in Parliament each year and which are also available on the Department's website. A note to the accounts also explains any variances in excess of both £4 million and 5% of budget.
	Information on departmental provisional expenditure against budget for 2011-12 will be published in July 2012 in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (PEOWP). The PEOWP will be available on the HM Treasury's website.

Tenancy Agreements

Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the decision that police forces should not provide pre-tenancy checks for local authorities;
	(2)  whether he has received any representations on the decision by the Information Commissioner that police forces should not provide pre-tenancy checks for local authorities.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the independent body responsible for regulating and enforcing the Data Protection Act 1998.
	The ICO has made no formal decision relating to police forces providing pre-tenancy checks for local authorities, but has provided advice to a number of forces outlining its concerns with such checks. This information was provided by the ICO.
	The Ministry of Justice has not received any representations in relation to the matter.

Translation Services

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  if he will place in the Library (a) pre-qualification criteria and (b) acceptable non-price criteria used in the tender process for the Commercial Framework Agreement to deliver language services in the criminal justice system;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2011, Official Report, column 310W, on Applied Language Solutions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the financial assessment of Applied Language Solutions.

Crispin Blunt: In accordance with EU directives, questions and requirements in the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) sought to address the financial and technical capacity of companies seeking to provide the services.
	The Procurement for the Language Services Framework was undertaken via a Competitive Dialogue Process. The project board set the non-price evaluation criteria as follows:
	
		
			 Criteria Percentage weighting 
			 Service 30 
			 Innovation 10 
			 Quality 25 
			 Assurance of Supply 30 
			 Sustainability 5 
		
	
	Thereafter, the deciding factor was affordability and price. We would accept the lowest priced, affordable and compliant tender, ie there was a minimum threshold for the non-price criteria above which the lowest priced tender would be selected. This threshold was set at 80% (representing an "acceptable" tender standard). Any tenders received which did not meet this level following Invitation to submit Detailed Solution were rejected.
	The financial assessment of Applied Language Solutions contains information that is commercially confidential therefore cannot be provided.

Trespass

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward plans to create an offence of intentional trespass to permit the removal of people occupying property without the landowner's permission without the need for a court order.

Crispin Blunt: The Government are considering how the law might be strengthened, but as yet no firm decisions have been made. Any changes would need to be considered against other commitments in the coalition agreement—including the right to peaceful protest—and resources available to the police and justice authorities.
	In the meantime, the Government are proposing in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to criminalise squatting in residential buildings. We hope that this will bring relief to those whose lives are blighted by having their homes occupied.

Victim Support Schemes

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how much funding his Department has provided for counselling services for victims and witnesses of crime suffering from trauma or bereavement in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many (a) adults and (b) children are on waiting lists to receive trauma or bereavement counselling; and how many have been on the waiting list for (i) one month, (ii) two months, (iii) three months, (iv) four months, (v) five months, (vi) six months, (vii) nine months, (viii) 12 months, (ix) 18 months, (x) 24 months, (xi) 30 months and (xii) 36 months;
	(3)  what the average length of time is that (a) a child and (b) an adult spends on a waiting list to receive trauma or bereavement counselling after being a victim of crime; and what the longest length time has been for (i) a child and (ii) an adult to receive trauma or bereavement counselling in the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: Prior to the start of the National Homicide Service in April 2010, there was little trauma and bereavement counselling available for victims and witnesses of crime outside the NHS. This led to them being placed on NHS waiting lists.
	Since the Homicide Service began in April 2010, trauma and bereavement counselling has been available to those families bereaved by homicide who require it. It is run by Victim Support and has a £600,000 commissioning budget from which it commissions trauma and bereavement counselling from three organisations: ASSIST Trauma Care, Winston’s Wish and Cruse Bereavement Care.
	The Ministry of Justice has also provided additional funding directly to these trauma/bereavement counselling providers to support people bereaved prior to the introduction of the Homicide Service as detailed in the following table.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Organisation 2010-11 (1) 2011-12 
			 ASSIST Trauma Care 0 125,000 
			 Winston's Wish 65,307 76,771.13 
			 Cruse Bereavement Care 0 15,000 
			 (1) Funding specifically for trauma/bereavement counselling was not provided prior to 2010-11. 
		
	
	At present, these providers do not have waiting lists in place.
	The Homicide Service has made in excess of 400 referrals for trauma and bereavement counselling for families bereaved since April 2010.
	Other victims groups funded by the Department may provide trauma/bereavement counselling to victims and witnesses of other crime types as part of the services they deliver but this funding would not specifically be for trauma/bereavement counselling only.

Victim Support Schemes

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding his Department provided to each organisation, including third sector organisations, which provided support services for victims of crime in the latest period for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: The following tables show the funding provided by the Ministry of Justice to organisations providing support to victims of crime in 2010-11:
	
		
			 2010/11 
			  £ 
			 Victim Support 44.25 million 
			   
			 Victims Fund/Combined Fund (Sexual Violence)  
			 Sexual and Domestic Abuse and Rape Advice Centre (SARAC) 50,000 
			 South Cumbria Rape and Abuse Service 37,025 
			 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (Cheshire and Merseyside) 41,269 
			 Womankind, Bristol Women's Therapy Centre 43,198 
			 SALT South West 16,295 
			 Migrant Helpline 49,880 
			 Twelves Company 50,000 
			 New Pathways 50,000 
			 Survivors UK 50,000 
			 Cornwall Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre 46,782 
			 CIS'ters (Childhood Incest Survivors) 50,000 
			 RASASC Croydon 43,427 
			 Incest and Sexual Abuse Survivors (ISAS) 35,985 
			 Survivors' Network 49,974 
			 Rape & Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (Darlington and County Durham) 39,654 
			 Tyneside Rape Crisis Centre 23,864 
			 Eva Women's Aid 50,000 
			 Rape Crisis (Wycombe, Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire) 49,950 
			 Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (Cornwall) 50,000 
			 Safeline 20,000 
			 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre, RASASC Guildford 50,000 
			 Northamptonshire Rape and Incest Crisis Centre 50,000 
			 Southampton Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service 49,991 
			 One In Four (UK) 49,990 
			 Grimsby and Scunthorpe Rape Crisis 42,210 
			 POW Nottingham 50,000 
			 Rape and Sexual Violence Project (RSVP) 50,000 
			 Rotherham Women's Counselling service 50,000 
			 Manchester Rape Crisis 11,940 
			 Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre 35,847 
			 Respond 50,000 
			 Doncaster Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service 49,863 
			 Sheffield Women's Counselling and Therapy Service 20,082 
			 Safe and Sound Derby 47,543 
			 Gloucester Rape Crisis Centre (GRCC) 33,980 
			 Crisis Point 50,000 
			 Women's Support Network and Jigsaw 30,766 
			 Worcester Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre 50,000 
			 Spires 49,911 
			 Rugby RoSA 50,000 
			 Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre 47,508 
			 Rape Crisis England and Wales 50,000 
			 The Survivors Trust 50,000 
			 Bradford Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Survivors Service (BRC&SASS) 50,000 
			 Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (CRASAC) 50,000 
			 Sexual Abuse and Incest Line (SAIL) 19,528 
			 Kairos Women Working Together (Kairos WTT) 49,117 
			 Rape and Sexual Abuse (RASA) Centre Merseyside (Sefton, Liverpool, Wirral, South Wirral) 50,000 
			 One25 50,000 
			 Karma Nirvana 37,500 
			 Galop 39,302 
			 Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service (Winchester) 30,000 
			   
		
	
	
		
			 Homicide Fund  
			 Escaping Victimhood 68,410 
			 MAMAA UK 63,516 
			 Roadpeace 19,841 
			 The Lucie Blackman Trust 53,400 
			 Winston's Wish 65,307 
			   
			 Support for Victims of Human Trafficking  
			 Eaves Housing for Women (POPPY Project) (1)1.85 million 
			   
			 Miscellaneous Grants  
			 Brake 50,000 
			 SAMM National 140,000 
			 (1)£900,000 MOJ/£950,000 HO. 
		
	
	Contributions to other  G overnment  D epartments
	In addition to the above, the following contributions were made to other Departments to fund victim and witness initiatives.
	
		
			 2010/11 
			  £ 
			 Home Office—Victim Surcharge contribution towards Hate Crime and Homicide Victims Funds (1)250,000 
			 (1 )Homicide Fund now administered by MOJ. 
		
	
	
		
			 2010-11 
			  Total spend (£) 
			 Including OGD contributions where appropriate 48,527,855

Victim Support Schemes

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding he plans to allocate to each (a) peer support organisation for victims of crime and (b) third sector organisations supporting victims of crime his Department funds in each of the next three years.

Crispin Blunt: The information is as follows:
	(a) Many victims organisations provide an element of peer support as part of their work. We define peer support as support from providers who are able to demonstrate empathy for bereaved families through some personal experience. The Victims' Commissioner's report(1) highlighted the contribution that peer support organisations can play in supporting relatives bereaved by homicide before the Homicide Service was established in April 2010. We intend to run a specific peer support grants fund for these organisations to allocate £250,000 in 2012-13 and £250,000 in 2013-14. Organisations will be invited to apply for grants up to £30,000 per year. Decisions on funding beyond 2013-14 have not yet been made.
	(1 )Review into the Needs of Families Bereaved by Homicide (July 2011).
	(b) The following table shows the funding which will be provided by the Ministry of Justice to third sector organisations supporting victims of crime in the next three years:
	
		
			  Funding amount (£) 
			 2012-13 48,426,535.56 
			 2013-14 48,623,676.52 
		
	
	
		
			 2014-15 (1)— 
			 (1 )Spending plans not yet decided. Decisions on funding beyond 2013-14 have not yet been made. The recently published consultation, “Getting it right for victims and witnesses” sets out our intention to raise additional monies from offenders to be spent on new services for victims. It also proposes that police and crime commissioners take on the role of commissioning victims' services in their local area so they in future will determine the organisations which will be funded, having made an assessment of the needs of victims in the community. Responsiveness to local circumstances will be a key benefit of the commissioning model that is being proposed and funding will be allocated to organisations that are able to meet local need as assessed by the police and crime commissioners.

Victim Support Schemes

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether he plans to allocate funding to the National Victims' Association;
	(2)  when he expects to announce the organisations allocated funding for peer support organisations providing victims support services.

Crispin Blunt: The National Victims’ Association (NVA) received £15,000 in 2011-12 to provide peer support to families bereaved by homicide. We intend to run a homicide peer support grants programme for the next two financial years (2012-13 and 2013-14) which we plan to open to applications on 22 February 2012. The NVA will be invited to apply.
	We intend to announce the names of the successful organisations in April 2012.

Victim Support Schemes

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding he plans to provide to third sector organisations supporting the victims of crime in each of the next five years.

Crispin Blunt: The following table shows the funding which will be provided by the Ministry of Justice to third sector organisations supporting victims of crime in the next three years:
	
		
			  Funding amount (£) 
			 2011-12 (1)48,516,614 
			 2012-13 48,426,535.56 
			 2013-14 48,623,676.52 
			 2014-15 (2)— 
			 2015-16 (2)— 
			 (1) In 2011-12 the charity Victim Support will receive, in addition to its grant funding, a sum yet to be determined raised under the Prisoners' Earnings Act. Over the 12 month period from 26 September 2011 to 30 September 2012 Victim Support will receipt up to £1 million from this source. (2) Spending plans not yet decided. Decisions on funding beyond 2013-14 have not yet been made. The recently published consultation, "Getting it right for victims and witnesses" sets out our intention to raise additional monies from offenders to be spent on new services for victims. It also proposes that police and crime commissioners take on the role of commissioning victims' services in their local area so they in future will determine the organisations which will be funded, having made an assessment of the needs of victims in the community. 
		
	
	Responsiveness to local circumstances will be a key benefit of the commissioning model that is being proposed and funding will be allocated to organisations that are able to meet local need as assessed by the police and crime commissioners.

TREASURY

Banks: Regulation

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking will be implemented.

Mark Hoban: The Government have committed to have all primary and secondary legislation in place by the end of this Parliament in May 2015. Banks will be expected to comply as soon as possible thereafter, and by 2019 at the latest, in line with the Basel III timetable.
	The Government have already begun work on introducing the competition proposals, and are legislating for the objectives for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in this Session as part of the Financial Services Bill. The FCA is expected to be operational in 2013.
	Other competition measures do not require legislation and are being implemented by industry and through existing regulatory powers. The Lloyds divestment is a commercial matter for Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) and is for the bank itself to execute, provided it sticks to the terms of state aid agreement with the European Commission.

Banks: Regulation

Gemma Doyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which teams in his Department had responsibility for the Project Merlin agreement with the banks.

Mark Hoban: The work on the Project Merlin agreement has been led out of the Financial Services Group at HM Treasury.

Charitable Donations: Higher Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to introduce fiscal measures to encourage philanthropic giving to higher education institutions in England.

Danny Alexander: The Government's three-year matched funding scheme for voluntary giving has supported the higher education sector in diversifying its income and generate additional funding from charitable giving. During the three years of this scheme, around £580 million of eligible gifts have gone to England's universities and colleges. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will be reviewing progress in philanthropic giving and will make recommendations to Government, the sector and donors on addressing any further challenges in this area. Professor Shirley Pearce (Vice Chancellor and President of Loughborough university) will chair the review which is scheduled to start in March and report in July 2012.
	Many higher education institutions in England are charities, and as such can already claim Gift Aid on donations received. As charities, higher education institutions will also benefit from a range of measures announced at Budget 2011 to encourage charitable giving and to reduce administrative burdens on charities when claiming tax reliefs. These measures included a reduced rate of inheritance tax for estates leaving 10% or more to charity.
	All tax reliefs are kept under review and any decisions on new measures may be taken at fiscal events.

Charitable Donations: Higher Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and (b) representatives of universities on provision of incentives to expand philanthropic giving to higher education institutions in England.

Danny Alexander: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Child Benefit

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many claims for child benefit are awaiting processing.

David Gauke: At the close of business on 27 January 2012 the number of new child benefit claims awaiting processing was around 56,850.

Child Benefit

Mark Menzies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the potential administrative costs of assessing the combined income of a couple as opposed to assessing income on the basis of one partner's tax band in respect of child benefit.

David Gauke: The Chancellor wanted to avoid a complex new means test for household income that would have fundamentally changed the nature of child benefit. The policy will be administered through the tax system using existing PAYE and self-assessment systems. This means that HMRC do not need to contact all 7.8 million households in receipt of child benefit. From a customer perspective, this delivery option does not place a burden on all child benefit claimants; it limits the impact to those households containing a higher rate taxpayer.

Child Tax Credit

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether parents who receive a one-off bonus from their employer which means their annual income falls into the higher income tax band will cease to be eligible for child tax credit under his Department's proposals; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: holding answer 24 January 2012
	The treatment and definitions of income used for tax credit purposes is generally the definition of income to be used for income tax purposes. Entitlement to tax credits is based on a family's gross annual income which would include any bonuses paid by an employer. The rate of income tax is not relevant.

Counterfeit Manufacturing: Cambridgeshire

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department has taken to reduce the distribution of counterfeit alcohol and cigarettes in (a) Peterborough and (b) Cambridgeshire.

Chloe Smith: The Government are committed to tackling the illicit trade in non-UK duty paid alcohol and cigarettes, including counterfeit products. Last year it published a comprehensive new tobacco strategy which is available at:
	www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/tackling-tobacco.htm
	The Government’s strategy to tackle alcohol fraud was published in 2009, which is available at:
	www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2009/tackling-alcohol-2850.pdf
	These strategies seek to address the supply of illicit alcohol and tobacco at both a national and local level. Specifically in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire HMRC has carried out targeted operations aimed at outlets for untaxed and counterfeit products. This involved working with the police and Trading Standards Officers to visit retail, business and domestic premises removing potentially harmful goods from sale and wherever possible penalising those involved. Working together across agencies allows a much wider range of powers and sanctions to be applied, maximising the impact enforcement can have on localised illicit activity.

Crown Estate Commissioners

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will allow the Crown Estate to borrow money in the capital markets; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will require the Crown Estate to invest in (a) science, (b) life science, (c) commercial university-based and (d) social finance projects; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: These activities are not permitted under the Crown Estate Act 1961.

Debts

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much household debt there was in each of the regions in the UK in December 2011.

Chloe Smith: Aggregate household debt in the UK was £1.55 trillion in Quarter 3 2011 Information about how this is distributed across regions is not available.

Departmental Official Photographs

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many official photographs have been taken of (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials in his Department for use in Government publications since May 2010; how many staff of his Department are expected to undertake photography of the Ministerial and senior leadership team as part of their duties; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  when he plans to answer question 82565, on official photographs, tabled on 21 November 2011 for answer on 23 November 2011.

Chloe Smith: I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member's questions.
	There has been one official photo taken of an HM Treasury Minister and three photos of senior officials for use in Government publications since May 2010.
	No staff within HM Treasury are expected to undertake photography as part of their duties.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: No contracts issued or to be issued by HM Treasury in 2011-12 have required or will require successful organisations to put up a capital bond.
	No contracts HM Treasury has tendered or expects to tender in 2011-12 have required or will require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million.

Departmental Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many away days his Department has held since May 2010; what the location was of each such away day; how many staff attended; and what the cost was of each such event.

Chloe Smith: The Department does not hold a central record of individual team building events and detailed information on the number of events, locations and the number of staff in attendance could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Total spending on all team building events for the period 1 May 2010 to 31 December 2011 was £22,800. Spending covering the 2009-10 financial year was £185,200.

EU Budget

William Cash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the circumstances in which the Government would decline to pay any further money to the EU in respect of any shortfall in the EU budget.

Mark Hoban: The UK is required to make its contributions under obligations imposed by the treaties. The European Communities Act 1972, and Section 2 in particular, gives effect within the UK to Community law.
	The Government remain committed to delivering real budgetary restraint at EU level, having successfully frozen the 2012 EU budget in real terms. The European Commission needs to manage any additional spending pressures within existing budgets. This is a task that national governments face every day and the EU must make the same tough decisions.

Financial Services: EU Law

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what his policy is on the revision of the directive on deposit guarantee schemes proposed by the European Commission;
	(2)  what the findings were of any regulatory impact assessments of the European Commission's proposed revision of the directive on deposit guarantee schemes;
	(3)  pursuant to his answer of 19 January 2012, Official Report, column 947W, what plans he has to consult the Treasury Select Committee on the revision of the directive on deposit guarantee schemes proposed by the European Commission.

Mark Hoban: When EU legislation is being reviewed or prepared, responses by the UK authorities to a public consultation will be made available on the Commission website. When EU legislation is proposed an explanatory memorandum is prepared outlining the Government's views. A provisional assessment of the proposal is also prepared. These are public documents that are available in the Library of the House.
	The impact assessment on the European Commission's proposed revision of the directive on deposit guarantee schemes is available at:
	http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/bank/guarantee/index_en.htm

Financial Services: EU Law

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether he has discussed with his EU counterparts the revision of the directive on deposit guarantee schemes proposed by the European Commission;
	(2)  how many meetings his Department has attended with European Commission officials on the proposed revision of the directive on deposit guarantee schemes in 2011.

Mark Hoban: Ministers and officials, as part of the process of policy development and delivery, have meetings with and receive representations from many European and international counterparts, and a wide variety of organisations and individuals in the public and private sector. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and representations.

Financial Services: EU Law

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 19 January 2012, Official Report, columns 946-9W, on financial services: EU law, what his policy is on the revision of the directive on investor compensation schemes proposed by the European Commission.

Mark Hoban: When EU legislation is being reviewed or prepared, responses by the UK authorities to a public consultation will be made available on the Commission website. When EU legislation is proposed an explanatory memorandum is prepared outlining the Government's views. A provisional assessment of the proposal is also prepared. These are public documents that are available in the Library of the House.

Financial Services: EU Law

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2012, Official Report, columns 946-9W, on financial services: EU law, 
	(1)  what communications he has received from industry on the revision of the directive on investor compensation schemes proposed by the European Commission in (a) November and (b) December 2011;
	(2)  whether he has discussed with his EU colleagues the revision of the directive on investor compensation schemes proposed by the European Commission.

Mark Hoban: Ministers and officials, as part of the process of policy development and delivery, have meetings with and receive representations from many European and international counterparts, and a wide variety of organisations and individuals in the public and private sector. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and representations.

Fossil Fuels: Reserves

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of progress on the identification of carbon bubbles in the financial investment system.

Mark Hoban: In anticipation of the Financial Services Bill which is currently before Parliament, the Government have established the interim Financial Policy Committee under the chairmanship of the Governor of the Bank of England to identify and monitor systemic risks to the financial system. The interim Financial Policy Committee is aware of this issue and the Bank of England will explore this further with market participants.

Fossil Fuels: Reserves

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Governor of the Bank of England on the merits of the Financial Policy Committee examining the implications of over-exposure to high-carbon assets by London-listed companies.

Mark Hoban: The Chancellor of the Exchequer meets regularly with the Governor of the Bank of England to discuss a range of subjects relating to financial stability and other issues. In line with established practice details of these meetings are not made public.

HM Revenue and Customs: Telephone Services

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps HM Revenue and Customs has taken to tackle staff turnover and low morale at its contact centres.

David Gauke: Staff turnover in HMRC's contact centres, as measured by attrition rates, has fallen in recent years from 19.6% in the year ended 31 March 2009 to 8.3% in the year ended 31 March 2011.
	Results from the latest departmental people survey show a 6 percentage point increase in the overall employee engagement index. HMRC has put in place a range of actions to enable it to continue to build on the progress it has started to make in this area. These include:
	Identification and analysis of the underlying factors across the Department that have an effect on employee engagement.
	Setting out clearly the expectations that HMRC has of its people and what they can expect to receive in return for their hard work and commitment.
	Focusing on leadership and organisational structure and design.
	Developing a customer-centric business strategy that provides clarity on HMRC's direction over the next four years.

Incentives

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he expects board members at the (a) Financial Conduct Authority, (b) Prudential Regulation Authority and (c) Bank of England to be paid in (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14 in (A) salary, (B) bonuses and (C) incentive schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: The remuneration arrangements for members of the Bank of England’s court of directors are detailed in the Bank’s annual report, which is available on the Bank’s website at:
	http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/annualreport/2011/remuneration2011.pdf
	The Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be established under provisions in the Financial Services Bill, currently before Parliament.
	The Bill provides for remuneration of board members of the PRA to be set by the Court of the Bank of England, reflecting the PRA’s status as a subsidiary of the Bank of England. The Bill provides for the Treasury to determine remuneration of non-executive appointed members of the FCA board and for the FCA to determine the remuneration of executive appointed members.
	It is anticipated that details of directors’ remuneration for the new bodies will be published annually, in line with standard corporate practice.

Income Tax: Bexley

David Evennett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people resident in the London borough of Bexley pay income tax at (a) 20 per cent., (b) 40 per cent. and (c) 50 per cent.

David Gauke: Estimates of the number of taxpayers in the London borough of Bexley, categorised by their highest marginal tax rate for 2007-08, the latest year for which detailed survey data is available, are provided in the following table.
	
		
			 London borough of Bexley 2007-08 
			 Marginal tax rate Number of taxpayers (thousand) 
			 Starting rate 12 
			 Basic rate 95 
			 Higher rate 16 
			 All taxpayers 123 
			 Note: Table shows number of taxpayers by their highest marginal tax rate. Source: Survey of Personal Incomes, 2007-08 See: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/inc-distribution-note.pdf 
		
	
	Projections of taxpayer numbers by marginal rate to 2011-12 are available for the UK and each Government office region on the HMRC website in tables 2.1 and 2.2, at the following addresses:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/table2-1.pdf
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/table2-2.pdf
	The projections are not available at lower levels of geography, due to greater uncertainties in making projections for small geographical areas and small sample sizes.

Income Tax: Overpayments

David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who have (a) overpaid and (b) underpaid income tax in (i) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (ii) East Yorkshire and (iii) Yorkshire and Humber in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost as the relevant HMRC systems do not include details of taxpayers' parliamentary constituency.

Individual Savings Accounts

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information his Department holds on the number of individual savings account holders who have ISAs with a market value of (a) £15,000 to £19,999, (b) £20,000 to £29,999, (c) £30,000 to £49,999, (d)  £50,000 to £99,999, (e) £100,000 to £199,999, (f)  £200,000 to £499,999, (g) £500,000 to £999,999 and (h) £1,000,000 who had incomes of (i) £0 to £4,999, (ii) £5,000 to £9,999, (iii) £10,000 to £19,999, (iv) £20,000 to £29,999, (v) £30,000 to £49,999, (vi) £50,000 to £99,999 and (vii) £100,000 or more in (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10.

Mark Hoban: The following table contains the information requested in relation to the latest year for which statistical estimates are available.
	
		
			 Individual savings accounts (ISA) 2008-09 
			 Thousand 
			  Market Values (lower and upper limits) 
			 Range of income £15,000 to £19,999 £20,000 to £29,999 £30,000 to £49,999 £50,000 to £99,999 £100,000 to £199,999 £200,000 to £499,999 £500,000 to £999,999 £1 million or more 
			 £0 to £4,999 217 127 137 41 8 1 (1)— (1)— 
			 £5,000 to £9,999 336 278 289 115 16 2 (1)— (1)— 
			 £10,000 to £19,999 715 516 555 204 34 4 (1)— (1)— 
			 £20,000 to £29,999 364 280 301 126 23 2 (1)— (1)— 
			 £30,000 to £49,999 312 260 267 126 27 5 (1)— (1)— 
			 £50,000 to £99,999 163 142 177 70 20 3 (1)— (1)— 
			 £100,000 or more 66 72 92 56 19 4 (1)— (1)— 
			 (1) Information in respect of ISA market values above £500,000 is not separately available because of the limitations of the statistical sample from which the analysis has been drawn. However, fewer than 500 individuals are estimated to be .represented in each of the separate ISA market value categories taking all the income ranges together.

Individual Savings Accounts

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) median and (b) mean market value was of individual savings accounts held by people with incomes of (i) £0 to £4,999, (ii) £5,000 to £9,999, (iii) £10,000 to £19,999, (iv) £20,000 to £29,999, (v) £30,000 to £49,999, (vi) £50,000 to £99,999 and (vii) £100,000 or more per annum at the end of (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10.

Mark Hoban: The following table contains the information requested in relation to the latest year for which statistical estimates are available.
	
		
			 Individual Savings Account (ISA) market values: 2008-09 
			 £ 
			 Range of income Median ISA market value Average ISA market value 
			 £0 to £4,999 3,700 9,000 
			 £5,000 to £9,999 5,800 11,900 
			 £10,000 to £19,999 6,400 12,200 
			 £20,000 to £29,999 5,100 11,700 
			 £30,000 to £49,999 6,700 13,300 
			 £50,000 to £99,999 10,100 17,500 
			 £100,000 or more 13,800 24,500

Insurance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will bring forward proposals to require insurance companies to disclose by (a) council ward and (b) postcode how many people in each such area hold (i) house, (ii) contents, (iii) car, (iv) life and (v) other forms of insurance with them; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will bring forward proposals to require insurance companies to publish indications by (a) council ward and (b) postcode of the difference in cost of similar insurance policies; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the extent to which insurance costs are higher for those living in the poorest 5% of local authority wards; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: In general, the Government do not require businesses to publish data relating to the geographical distribution of their customers. Excessive reporting requirements impose cost burdens on businesses which are eventually paid for by consumers. The Government are committed to reducing the burden of regulation on business.
	However, officials do take available distributional statistics into account in the course of policy development where relevant, including on the take-up of insurance.
	Insurers often use location as a risk factor when calculating the price for some products, such as home or motor insurance. While, in itself, location does not determine whether or not a person will make a claim, it can be an accurate indicator of the likelihood of a claim. For example the risks of crime, collisions, volume of personal injury claims and uninsured drivers all correlate with location.
	However, insurers also use their claims experience and other industry-wide statistics to assess the risks posed by an individual and set the terms and price at which they will offer insurance cover. As such, direct comparisons between policies can be challenging and it is not always practical to separate out the impact of location.

Manufacturing Industries: Loans

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his Department will consider bringing forward proposals to encourage banks to lend to advanced manufacturers.

Mark Hoban: The Government recognise that businesses are fundamental to the economic recovery and this is why we are taking action to support them to ensure they have the access to the finance they need in order to grow.
	At the autumn statement of 29 November 2011, Official  Report, columns 799-810, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a package of credit easing interventions worth up to £21 billion to improve the flow of credit to businesses that do not have ready access to capital markets, with scope to increase the scale of this package in future if necessary, including:
	A National Loan Guarantee Scheme (NLGS) which will lead to reductions in the cost of bank loans for smaller businesses (those with turnover of up to £50 million). The scheme will allow banks to raise up to £20 billion of funding with a government guarantee, to lend directly to smaller businesses at a lower cost. In many cases this will lead to a reduction of up to one percentage point on business loan rates. More information regarding the NLGS will be announced at Budget.
	A Business Finance Partnership (BFP), initially of £1 billion, to deliver additional finance to mid-sized businesses through non-bank lending channels. The BFP will initially co-invest, with private sector investors like insurance companies, in loan funds that will lend directly to mid-sized businesses.

National Insurance Contributions

David Miliband: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what revenue accrued to the Exchequer from national insurance contributions paid by (a) employers and (b) employees in respect of the employment of a person less than 25 years of age.

David Gauke: The amount of national insurance contributions payable in respect of individuals under 25 years of age in 2009-10 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  £ billion 
			 Employee NICs 2.3 
			 Employer NICs 2.6 
		
	
	Estimates are based on a 1% sample of NICs and PAYE service data.

National Insurance Contributions: Young People

Therese Coffey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much employers' national insurance was received for employees who were 18 years or under in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

David Gauke: The amount of employer's national insurance contributions payable in respect of individuals aged 18 and under was £80 million in 2009-10. Estimates are based on a 1% sample of NICs and PAYE Service data.
	Figures for 2010-11 are not available.

Network Rail: Debts

Tom Harris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with 
	(1)  the (a) National Audit Office and (b) Secretary of State for Transport on Network Rail's debt being reclassified as on-balance rather than private;
	(2)  the Secretary of State for Transport on Network Rail's debt.

Danny Alexander: Treasury Ministers and officials have regular discussions with their counterparts in other Government Departments and external bodies as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
	It is a matter for the independent Office for National Statistics to determine the most appropriate classification of organisations such as Network Rail.

Non-Domestic Rates: East Midlands

Robin Walker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many outstanding appeals on decisions on business rate revaluation remain from the 2005 valuation in (a) Worcester constituency, (b) Worcestershire and (c) the west midlands;
	(2)  how many appeals against decisions on business rate revaluation from the 2010 valuation have been made in (a) Worcester constituency, (b) Worcestershire and (c) the west midlands.

David Gauke: Official statistics published by the Valuation Office Agency show numbers of challenges in the following tables.
	
		
			 2005 rating list 
			  Outstanding challenges at 31 March 2011 Outstanding challenges at 31 December 2011 
			 West midlands 10,500 8,460 
			 Worcestershire 890 n/a 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 rating list 
			  C hallenges received 1 April 2010 to  31 March 2011 Ch allenges received 1 April 2011 to  31 December 2011 
			 West midlands 21,380 11,210 
			 Worcestershire 2,390 n/a 
		
	
	Breakdowns by county and administrative area are only provided on a financial year basis due to sparseness of the data, and will be added to the release in May following the end of the 2011-12 financial year.
	Equivalent statistics broken down by parliamentary constituency can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Outstanding challenges against the 2005 list and challenges received against 2010 list, as at 31 March 2011, are taken from Tables 7.4 and 3.2 respectively and can be found in the following location:
	http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/statisticalReleases/localRatingListChallenges.html
	(12 May 2011)
	Outstanding challenges against the 2005 list and challenges received against the 2010 list, as at 31 December 2011, are taken from Tables 7.4 and 2.2 respectively and can be found in the following location:
	http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/statisticalReleases/120119_LocalRatingListChallenges.html
	(19 January 2012)

PAYE

Paul Uppal: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on developing the PAYE Real Time Information project; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The policy on developing PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) is to provide a 21st century PAYE system making it easier for employers, pension providers and HMRC to administer and more accurate for individuals.
	RTI will also support the operation of universal credit—the Government's flagship welfare programme—by providing up to date information about employment and pension income so that the claimants' welfare payments can be adjusted to reflect their circumstances.

PAYE

Paul Uppal: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the development of the PAYE Real Time Information project; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: Treasury Ministers receive a wide range of representation on tax policy and operational issues. PAYE Real Time Information represents a significant reform to the PAYE system and has therefore been raised by a broad range of stakeholders including the accountancy profession, payroll providers and the banking industry. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Pensions

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the Autumn Statement, what discussions he has had with pension funds on the allocation of funding for infrastructure under his memorandum of understanding with pension funds; how many pension funds have signed up to provide such funding; and how much funding he has allocated in each year of the current Parliament under the memorandum of understanding.

Danny Alexander: The Treasury is currently in discussions with the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to develop a Pension Infrastructure Platform which will be wholly owned by UK Pension Funds.
	A public update of progress will be published at the Budget.

Performance Related Pay

John Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the maximum end of year non-consolidated performance-related pay award was for secondees and interim staff in his Department since May 2010.

Chloe Smith: HM Treasury has not made any non-consolidated performance-related pay awards to secondees or interims since May 2010.

Performance Related Pay

John Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the monetary value was of non-consolidated performance-related payments made to commercial specialists at HM Revenue and Customs at each year end since May 2010.

David Gauke: HMRC operates two bonus arrangements:
	Performance awards tied to the annual performance for delegated grades (AA to Grade 6) and senior civil servants (SCS); and
	A recognition bonus scheme for delegated grades which recognises exceptional in year performance. This scheme is not open to members of the SCS.
	The value of non-consolidated performance-related payments made to HMRC commercial specialists:
	In financial year 2010-11 relating to performance in 2009/10 was £18,186.
	In financial year 2011-12 relating to performance in 2010-11 was £27,171.

Personal Pensions

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what plans he has to require more transparent information on private pension fund companies to be provided; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps he plans to take to increase transparency in the charges, fees and commissions paid by consumers on private pensions; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  if he will ask the Financial Services Authority to investigate the (a) level of competition, (b) fees or commissions paid by consumers and (c) accuracy of information provided to consumers in the private pensions industry.

Mark Hoban: The Government welcome recent initiatives, involving the National Association of Pension Funds and other stakeholders with an interest in pension provision, to develop an industry code of practice to support greater transparency in the charges made on workplace pensions.
	The regulation of private pension products, providers and schemes is a matter for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Pensions Regulator. The FSA's Retail Distribution Review (RDR) is examining the transparency and fairness of fees and charges across the financial advice landscape and as part of its ongoing work has published new rules that will come into force on 31 December 2012.

Public Sector: Manpower

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2011, Official Report, column 20W, on employment: public sector, what the details are of his plan to actively monitor potential workforce reductions; and what steps he plans to take as a result of such monitoring.

Danny Alexander: The ONS publishes quarterly statistics on public sector employment including levels of employment in the public and private sectors. The latest release can be found at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_232222.pdf
	HM Treasury does not centrally manage changes to public sector work forces. It is for individual employers to decide what would be the most cost-effective work force to enable them to deliver public services and live within their spending review settlements.
	Employers have been reforming their work forces since the spending review, to make the necessary savings and maximise value for money within their settlements. Different work forces have approached the task in different ways, for example, in the civil service a recruitment freeze has been in place since May last year.

Social Investment Task Force

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the recommendations of the Final Report of the Social Investment Task Force, April 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: Since the publication of the Final Report of the Social Investment Task Force in April 2010, the Government have made substantial progress in implementing its three main recommendations.
	In September 2010, the Ministry of Justice launched the world's first social impact bond, which aims to reduce re-offending at Peterborough prison.
	Work to establish a social investment wholesaler, Big Society Capital, is now almost complete. We expect the institution to become fully operational very shortly.
	The Government will re-notify Community Investment Tax Relief to the European Commission and are currently consulting in advance of re-notification on how the scheme can be made more effective.
	All of these steps form part of the Government's overall strategy for growing the social investment market. Full details were published in February 2011, and the strategy document is available at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/growing-social-investment-market-vision-and-strategy

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of potential changes in levels of revenue to the Exchequer arising from the proposed reduction in solar photovoltaic feed-in tariffs.

Chloe Smith: While there is likely to be some reduction in revenues from the solar sector due to the proposed reduction on solar PV tariffs, this will be offset against the higher electricity costs, and so reduced economic activity and lower tax revenues, that would otherwise result in the rest of the economy.
	Raising taxes by transferring money from consumers to those installing solar PV through over generous subsidies is not fair, efficient or sustainable tax policy.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 708W, on stamp duty land tax 
	(1)  how many inquiries HM Revenue and Customs has opened into the schemes of the type described in Spotlight 10: Stamp Duty Land Tax Avoidance since May 2010;
	(2)  on how many occasions stamp duty land tax returns have been submitted and full disclosure of the use of an avoidance scheme been made.

Chloe Smith: HMRC does not publish detailed information which might prejudice the effective conduct of its compliance activities. An inquiry will be opened into a land transaction return in every case where it appears that an avoidance scheme has been used. A disclosure may be received in the absence of a return: in this case a determination of the tax due will be issued.

Stamp Duty Land Tax: Tax Avoidance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 12 January 2012, Official Report, column 389W, on stamp duty land tax: tax avoidance, what the policy of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is in respect of insurance policies which protect a purchaser against the possibility of HMRC pursuing them for stamp duty land tax on the full amount paid for a property.

Chloe Smith: Any such insurance policies would be a commercial matter between the user of an avoidance scheme and the scheme provider or insurer.

Stamp Duty Land Tax: Tax Avoidance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 12 January 2012, Official Report, column 389W, on stamp duty land tax: tax avoidance, if he will place in the Library a copy of the analysis which shows that tax avoidance schemes are not effective in reducing stamp duty land tax liability.

Chloe Smith: As this analysis relies on legal advice which is subject to legal professional privilege, I am unable to do so.

Student Loans Company: Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the costs of unwinding the arrangements for remunerating the chief executive of the Student Loans Company; and if he will estimate the potential costs of unwinding any similar remuneration arrangements within the public service.

David Willetts: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The Student Loans Company (SLC) has agreed that for the remainder of the chief executive's contract SLC will account for PAYE and NI at source. The chief executive's salary level will not change.
	The Government have not estimated the cost of unwinding any similar arrangements within the public sector. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) has announced a review which will examine the extent to which such arrangements are in use across the public sector and make appropriate recommendations.

Tax Allowances: Pensions

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2011, Official Report, column 541W, on tax allowances pensions, what proportion of income tax relief on contributions accrues to, or is expected to accrue to, individuals with an annual income of (a) up to £19,999, (b) between £20,000 and £44,999, (c) between £45,000 and £74,999, (d) between £75,000 and £99,999, (e) between £100,000 and £149,999 and (f) over £150,000 in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.

Mark Hoban: The proportion of income tax relief on pension contributions for the given income ranges, and years, is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Percentage  of income tax relief on contributions 
			 Income bands 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 £0-£19,999 7 7 6 
			 £20,000-£44,999 29 31 30 
			 £45,000-£74,999 26 31 32 
			 £75,000-£99,999 7 8 8 
			 £100,000-£149,999 8 8 8 
			 over £150,000 22 15 15 
			 All 100 100 100 
		
	
	The effect of the reductions in the annual allowance in 2011-12 and lifetime allowance from 2012-13 are reflected in the table as they mostly relate to individuals with incomes over £150,000.

Tax Allowances: Pensions

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2011, Official Report, column 541W, on tax allowances pensions, if he will update the table published by HM Revenue and Customs referred to in the answer for 2010-11; and if he will publish equivalent forecasts for 2011-12 and 2012-13.

Mark Hoban: The table 7.9 that is referred to in the answer of 18 July 2011, Official Report, column 541W, on tax allowances pensions, is scheduled to be updated and published on the 27 February 2012 on the HMRC website.
	However, table 1.5 on the HMRC website does provide a forecast for income tax relief for registered pensions for the years 2010-11 and 2011-12 and can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax_expenditures/table1-5.xls

Tax Allowances: Pensions

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2011, Official Report, column 541W, on tax allowances pensions, what proportion of the £4 billion per annum reduction in the cost of relief from the reductions in the annual allowance in 2011-12 and lifetime allowance from 2012-13 is forecast to relate to individuals with incomes over £150,000.

Mark Hoban: The reductions in the annual allowance introduced in 2011-12 and the lifetime allowance from 2012-13 were forecast to reduce the cost of relief by around £4 billion per annum.
	The proportion of the reduction which relates to individuals with incomes over £150,000 is 86% in the case of the annual allowance.
	There is no detailed breakdown of the proportion for the lifetime allowance but it is expected to be similar.

Tax Avoidance

Nick Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advice is issued by his Department on the use of tax avoidance devices and personal service companies by (a) individual Government Departments, (b) senior civil servants and (c) departmental agencies.

Danny Alexander: Guidance on the use of tax advisers and tax avoidance is provided in Managing Public Money, paragraphs 4.2.6 to 4.2.7
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/mpm_ch4.pdf
	Managing Public Money applies to all central Government organisations and civil servants.

Tax Credit

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2012, Official Report, column 41W, on working tax credit: Shrewsbury, what estimate he has made of how many households in each (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority will no longer be entitled to tax credits following the introduction of changes to credits from April 2012.

David Gauke: The information requested has been deposited in the Library of the House.

The Plan For Growth

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the likely contribution to growth made by each of the 137 supply-side measures set out in The Plan for Growth in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15.

Chloe Smith: The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for producing independent economic and fiscal forecasts.
	The Government are implementing a wide reaching programme of structural reforms. Work has started on all 137 commitments in “The Plan for Growth” and substantial progress has been made. Building on this, the Government announced further action in the autumn statement to accelerate their supply side reforms to invest in infrastructure, support enterprise and build a stronger and more balanced economy.

UK Farm Finance Group

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had recent discussions with US financial regulators regarding UK Farm Finance Group and Commercial First Burgess Salmond; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of such discussions.

Welfare Tax Credits

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 11 January 2012, Official Report, column 303W, on tax credit, how many tax credit claims were awaiting processing on 5 January 2012.

David Gauke: At the close of business on 5 January 2012 there were around 44,500 new tax credit claims to be processed.

Working Tax Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what 
	(1)  saving to the public purse he expects as a result of the reduction from 80 per cent. to 70 per cent. in the proportion of childcare costs covered by the childcare element of working tax credits in the year to April 2012;
	(2)  estimate he has made of the number of households that have suffered a loss as a result of the reduction in the proportion of childcare costs covered by the childcare element of working tax credits from 80 per cent. to 70 per cent.; and what the average loss has been.

Chloe Smith: The savings from reducing the proportion of child care costs covered by the child care element of working tax credits can be found on page 16 of the policy costing document for the Spending Review 2010:
	http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_policycostings.pdf
	The savings from this policy are inserted here:
	
		
			  Savings 
			 2011-12 +370 
			 2012-13 +430 
			 2013-14 +465 
			 2014-15 +500 
		
	
	This policy is part of a range of reforms to the tax credits system announced at the spending review.
	Estimating the number of households impacted by an individual measure does not give a clear indication of the full monetary impact on an individual household.
	The Government have published estimates of the distributional impact of the packages of announced tax and benefit measures on the June Budget and Spending Review 2010 which can be found at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/junebudget_annexa.pdf
	http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_annexb.pdf

Written Questions: Government Responses

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to answer questions (a) 77333, (b) 82565 and (c) 87573; and if he will explain the reasons for the time taken.

Chloe Smith: PQ number 77333 was answered on 9 February 2011, Official Report, column 356W. PQ numbers 82565 and 87573 have been answered today.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to answer Questions (a) 88761, (b) 88633, (c) 88524, (d) 90739 and (e) 90736; and if he will explain the time taken in answering these questions.

Mark Hoban: Questions (a) 88761, (b) 88633, (c) 88254, (d) 90739 and (e) 90736 have been answered today.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to answer question 91434 tabled on 18 January 2012 for answer on 24 January 2012.

David Gauke: I have today replied to the hon. Member’s question and I apologise for the delay in responding.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Healthcare

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Atos contract for work capability assessments includes penalty clauses; whether those clauses have come into effect; and whether he has any plans to implement any such penalty clauses.

Chris Grayling: The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) contractual agreement with Atos Healthcare contains performance service levels. The contract also contains financial remedies where there is service level failure based on a pre-estimate of loss to the Department which are described as service credits.
	Service credits are considered on a month by month basis taking into consideration any mitigation presented to the Department by the contractor. The Contracts Service Credits regime allows the contractor, in certain circumstances, to recover some or all of the service credit accrued. This mechanism incentivises the service provider, following failure, to re-achieve and maintain the service level position within a reasonable time period.
	The actual application of service credits is commercial in confidence as, if disclosed; the information may prejudice the commercial interests of the Atos Healthcare and the Department's future dealings with the Atos Healthcare or other service providers.
	The contractual performance and service credits are monitored and decided by the Medical Services Contract Management Team in accordance with the contractual arrangement.

Atos Healthcare

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Atos assessment centre in Glasgow has recently extended its opening hours for the work capability assessment.

Chris Grayling: The assessment centre within Corunna House, Glasgow has been scheduling appointments in the early evenings in addition to the normal core hours from February 2012.

Atos Healthcare

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Atos assessment centre in Glasgow operates a (a) Saturday and (b) Sunday service; and if so when this service began.

Chris Grayling: Assessments have been scheduled on a regular basis on both Saturdays and Sunday at the assessment centre within Corruna House in Glasgow for several years. The number of assessments scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays has increased since the beginning of 2012.

Carer’s Allowance

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of carers that were (a) entitled to and (b) in receipt of carer’s allowance as a result of caring for someone who was in receipt of (i) disability living allowance and (ii) attendance allowance in the latest period for which figures are available.

Maria Miller: The information requested is not available.
	The National Statistics datasets on carer’s allowance do not contain any information on the identity or characteristics of the person being cared for. Similarly, the National Statistics datasets on disability living allowance and attendance allowance claimants do not contain any information on the identity or characteristics of any person caring for the claimant. Some early analysis has been undertaken to use additional information to link the datasets, but to quality assure the results to the standard required for parliamentary questions would incur disproportionate costs.

Child Support Agency

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the transition to the new Child Support Agency system to be complete.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the child maintenance commissioner to write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Susan Park
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. As the Child Maintenance Commissioner is currently away I am responding on his behalf.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects the transition to the new Child Support Agency system to be complete.
	Following the introduction of the new scheme in late 2012, we aim to carry out a process of closing existing CSA cases; however, we intend to have at least a six-month period of live running with new cases before we then start to move the first cases off the old CSA systems. We expect the period of case closure to take around three years. The regulations which will govern the detail of this process have yet to be subject to public consultation. Once a case has been closed, parents will then have the choice either to make a family-based arrangement or to apply to the new scheme.
	Further details of our plans for the introduction of the new statutory maintenance scheme can be found in the Government Green Paper, Strengthening families, promoting parental responsibility: the future of child maintenance, available at the following link:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/strengthening-families.pdf

Child Support Agency

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people used the Child Support Agency system in the last year; and how many of these were in receipt of benefits.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Susan Park
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. As the Child Maintenance Commissioner is currently away I am responding on his behalf.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people used the Child Support Agency system in the last year; and how many of these were in receipt of benefits.
	Published benefit data is only available up to May 2011, therefore the numbers of parents with care and non-resident parents have been provided up to this point. Further details of the Child Support Agency caseload up to December 2011 can be found in the latest Quarterly Summery of Statistics available at:
	http://www.childmaintenance.org/en/pdf/qss/QSS_dec_2011.pdf
	The information you have requested for the year to May 2011 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number involved with a CSA case Number in receipt of benefit 
			 Parent with care 1,140,700 336,900 
			 Non-resident parent 1,121,900 317,900 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Figures do not include cases managed off-system 3. Figures reflect the period of 1 June 2010 to 31 May 2011. 4. In the above analysis, a parent with care is deemed to be in receipt of benefit if they are on income support or income-based jobseekers allowance. A non-resident parent is classified as on benefit if they are in receipt of income support, jobseekers allowance or incapacity benefit. 5. The benefit status of the individual parent with care or non-resident parent has been included in the above analysis. The benefit status of the household, i.e. benefit status of the partner of the parent with care or non-resident parent has not been included.

Child Support Agency

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria will be used to determine which parent will be subject to the up-front charge for accessing the Child Support Agency.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Susan Park
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. As the Child Maintenance Commissioner is currently away I am responding on his behalf.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria will be used to determine which parent will be subject to the up-front charge for accessing the Child Support Agency.
	I ought first of all to state that there is no intention to charge for accessing the Child Support Agency. When the new scheme using HM Revenue and Customs income data is launched, we will run it for at least six months to ensure it is working and delivering an improved client service before we introduce charges. At that point, we will begin to close all existing Child Support Agency cases and invite parents to choose whether they wish to apply to the new scheme or whether they would rather seek to agree their own arrangement between themselves.
	The up-front charge for accessing the new scheme will be payable by whoever makes the application. This is because it is this person whom we want to pause and reflect whether the statutory solution is really the best option.

Child Support Agency

Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the level of the Child Support Agency flat rate threshold if it had been subject to the same annual increase as benefits in each year between 2000 and 2011.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Susan Park
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. As the Child Maintenance Commissioner is currently away I am responding on his behalf.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the level of the Child Support Agency flat rate threshold if it had been subject to the same annual increase as benefits in each year between 2000 and 2011.
	In 2003, the flat rate of £5 per week was introduced within the child maintenance scheme, payable by non-resident parents who receive any of a number of benefits, including Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.
	To answer your question of the percentage increase in benefits; since April 2000 benefits such as Income Support have been increased annually by the ROSSI measure of inflation, changing to CPI inflation from April 2011. If the flat rate threshold lower and upper limits of £5 and £100 had been increased in the same way as Income Support, the lower and upper limits would have increased to £6.45 and £129.30 respectively. Similarly, the £5 flat rate deduction would have increased to £6.45.

Children: Day Care

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to extend provision of high-quality childcare for children aged under five.

Sarah Teather: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Education.
	The Government increased the entitlement to free early education for all three and four year olds in England from 12 and a half to 15 hours per week, from September 2010; and is now extending the entitlement to the 20% most disadvantaged two year olds by 2013, rising to some 40% by 2014.
	We want to strengthen further the quality of free early education. As part of a consultation launched in November 2011, we are proposing that local authorities require providers to meet one or more quality criteria in order to be eligible to receive funding.
	The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework for all registered early education and child care for young children under five ensures that parents can be confident of a consistent quality experience for their child whichever provider they choose. The Government's reform of the framework will reduce paperwork and bureaucracy for professionals and better support children's healthy development and future learning. The revised framework will be implemented from September 2012.
	Professor Cathy Nutbrown's review for the Department for Education is considering how best to strengthen staff qualifications and career pathways in the foundation years to build a work force of skilled, knowledgeable and professional practitioners. She will publish an interim report in March 2012.

Cold Weather Payments

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Bexley have received a cold weather payment in each of the last three years.

Steve Webb: Gravesend is the weather station linked to Bexleyheath and Crayford and the London borough of Bexley. The number of benefit units we estimate to have had a payment in the area covered by the weather station is in the following table.
	
		
			 Estimated number of benefit units that received at least one cold weather payment for postcode districts in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) London borough of Bexley 
			  Weather station Gravesend 
			 2009-10 118,700 
			 2010-11 119,400 
			 2011/12 (1)0 
			 (1) To date. Notes: 1. The information provided is management information. Our preference is to answer all parliamentary questions using official/National Statistics but in this case we only have management information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as official/National Statistics and there are some issues with the data, for example, figures given are estimates. Actuals are not available. Estimates for 2011-12 maybe revised after the end of the cold weather payment season, but will still be estimates not actuals. 2. A cold weather payment is made to an eligible customer when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0°C or below over seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to the customer's postcode. (When the temperature criterion is met, the weather station is said to trigger.) 3. Gravesend weather stations is linked both to an area within the London borough of Bexley and Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and also to an area outside the London borough of Bexley and Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency. Estimated numbers given are for the weather station as a whole, not for the part of the London borough of Bexley and Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency linked to the weather station. 4. Cold weather payments are made to benefit units. A benefit unit can be a single person or a couple and can include children. 5. Some benefit units received more than one payment in a year. 6. Estimated numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100. Sources: Postcode district to weather station links: Department for Work and Pensions records. Records of triggers and estimates of potential qualifiers by weather station: Department for Work and Pensions records.

Council Tax

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the income will be of an owner-occupying couple with two children under seven years receiving school meals costing £2 per day each for whom council tax is £1,000 per year, where (a) one member of the couple is working 18 hours per week earning £7 per hour, prior to the change in the hours rule in April 2012, (b) one member of the couple is working 18 hours per week earning £7 per hour, after the change in the hours rule in April 2012, (c) one member of the couple is working 18 hours per week earning £7 per hour, after the introduction of universal credit and (d) nobody in the household is working.

Chris Grayling: The information is as follows.
	(a) Prior to April 2012, this household would be entitled to working tax credit and they would have income of around £354 per week. This includes around £13 a week in council tax benefit. They would not be entitled to free school meals.
	(b) In 2012-13, this household would not be entitled to receive working tax credit and would have income of around £308 per week. This includes around £19 a week in council tax benefit and £20 a week which is allocated for school meals for both children.
	(c) The Department for Education is considering options for new eligibility criteria for free school meals once universal credit is introduced. These options will take account of the Social Security Advisory Committee's independent review of passported benefits. The Government will consult on free school meal eligibility proposals during 2012, ahead of the introduction of universal credit from October 2013.
	From April 2013, support for council tax will be localised and the household's reduction in council tax will be determined by the design of their local scheme.
	Excluding any additional amounts for free school meals or reductions in council tax, in universal credit this household would have income of around £376 per week.
	(d) Excluding any additional amounts for free school meals or reductions in council tax if this household was out of work, then under universal credit their income would be around £250 per week.
	Notes:
	1. Part (a) is based on the current system prior to April 2012.
	2. Part (b) is based on the current system in 2012-13.
	3. Parts (c) and (d) are based upon universal credit in 2014-15.
	4. Income is defined as net earnings in addition to any benefits or tax credits.
	5. Council tax of £1,000 a year has been equated to approximately £19 a week.
	6. All numbers have been provided in 2011-12 prices and where necessary deflated by the GDP Deflator. All numbers have been rounded to the nearest £1.

Council Tax

Nick Raynsford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 8 February 2012 to question 92516, on council tax, if he will place in the Library a table of aggregated data for each local authority showing (a) council tax benefit recipients by age group and family type at September 2011 and (b) council tax benefit recipients' average weekly award by age group and family type at September 2011.

Steve Webb: The available information requested has already been placed in the Library, in response to PQ89576, on 20 January 2012, Official Report, columns 1021-2W.

Departmental Food

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of food purchased by his Department was produced in the UK in each of the last five years.

Chris Grayling: The information is as follows.
	(a) Since 1998 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) occupies the majority of its accommodation under a private finance initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract. Under the terms of this PFI the Department leases back fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner Telereal Trillium. This covers a variety of facilities including, where appropriate, the provision of Catering Services which is delivered through Telereal Trillium's service partner Compass Group UK, trading as Eurest. They can confirm that for the year 2011-12 (to date) the percentage of food procured for the DWP catering contract that has been produced in the UK is 36%, however, it should be noted that there are considerable volumes of non-indigenous products purchased including; tea, coffee, rice, citrus and exotic fruits. In addition they also purchase out of UK season, fruits and vegetables.
	The 2010-11 figure was 11% which has previously been reported as part of normal departmental annual reporting. With regard to earlier years they are unable to provide this information due to the short time given to respond and as it would take considerable resource to go back through historic data it would be a disproportionate cost.
	They would also like to highlight the following:
	100% of our fresh beef is British
	100% of our fresh pork joints is British
	100% of fresh milk is British
	100% of our shell eggs are UK sourced and Lion marked
	All of our fresh potatoes and root vegetables are sourced from UK when in season.

Disability Living Allowance

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (a) how many and (b) what proportion of people were in receipt of the (i) care and (ii) mobility component of the disability living allowance in (A) Glasgow South West constituency and (B) Glasgow in the latest period for which figures are available.

Maria Miller: The information is contained in the following table.
	
		
			 The proportion of people in receipt of the care and mobility component of disability living allowance (DLA): May 2011 
			  Total in receipt of DLA Total in receipt of care component Percentage of all DLA in receipt of care component Total in receipt of mobility component Percentage of all DLA in receipt of mobility component 
			 Glasgow South West parliamentary constituency 8,550 7,330 85.7 7,6.30 89.2 
			 Glasgow City local authority 56,580 49,200 87.0 50,410 89.1 
			 Notes: 1. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10, percentages to one decimal place. 2. Figures show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and excludes people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. 3. DLA care and mobility components can be paid together or on their own. 4. These data are available on the Department’s tabulation tool at: http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html Source: DWP Information, Governance and Security Directorate, 100% WPLS.

Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether individuals undergoing (a) intravenous chemotherapy and (b) radiotherapy for cancer and claiming employment and support allowance will be subject to the work capability assessment.

Chris Grayling: As part of his second Independent Review of the WCA Professor Malcolm Harrington asked Macmillan Cancer Support (Macmillan) to look in detail at how the WCA assesses people with cancer and to provide him with recommendations for further improvements. Macmillan provided compelling evidence that the current provision for individuals undergoing cancer treatment should be changed, they also suggested that all individuals receiving oral chemotherapy and certain types of radiotherapy are placed in the support group.
	The Department accepted there is a need for change. However, we know that cancer and cancer treatment can affect individuals differently. The Macmillan evidence shows this. And it shows some people want to work during treatment and are capable of doing so. The Department has brought forward proposals based on this evidence which would increase the number of people placed in the support group and reduce the number of face-to-face assessments. We are now consulting on our proposals, particularly seeking the wider views of specialists and cancer sufferers themselves. The consultation lasts until 9 March 2012.

Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he proposes that an individual who is DS 1500-registered for the purposes of employment and support allowance (ESA) but who lives beyond six months from when they are registered, will have to (a) re-register as terminally ill and (b) reapply for ESA.

Chris Grayling: The Department considers a person to be terminally ill if they are diagnosed with a progressive disease, and where death is a likely consequence of that disease and is reasonably expected within six months.
	Where a terminally ill person has claimed employment and support allowance (ESA) under the “special rules”, and the Jobcentre Plus Decision Maker has determined that the claimant is terminally ill and, as a result, has been awarded the ESA support component, the claimant will not be reassessed for a period of three years. They do not have to re-register or re-apply for ESA.

Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for how many weeks each employment and support allowance claimant who has not yet been assessed through the work capability assessment has been waiting for their assessment.

Chris Grayling: The Official Statistics do not focus on benefit durations; therefore there is no information readily available on waiting time to the assessment.
	The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) regularly publishes official statistics on the outcome of employment and support allowance (ESA) work capability assessment (WCA). The latest report was published in January 2012 and can be found on the departmental website at the following link:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca

Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time was for an employment and support allowance (ESA) applicant between completing the ESA 50 questionnaire and undergoing the work capability assessment in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

Chris Grayling: In April 2011 incapacity benefit reassessment (IBR) began, significantly increasing the volume of people requiring a work capability assessment (WCA), and in July 2011 a number of changes were introduced to both the IBR and the ESA process. The changes introduced on the recommendation of Professor Harrington, although improving the overall process, had the impact of increasing the time taken to complete face to face medical assessments. Considerable time and effort has gone into training Atos Healthcare professionals to deliver the changes introduced and the time taken to conduct medical assessments has decreased over time.
	At any given time there are large volumes of cases going through the medical assessment journey. DWP and Atos Healthcare are working very closely to reduce the length of the WCA process by improving capacity and productivity.
	Average time for WCA customer journey:
	2009 was 39.3 days
	2010 was 36.05 days
	2011 was 44.00 days
	Notes
	1. The data supplied are derived from unpublished management information which was collated for internal departmental use only. The data supplied have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard and are subject to change. They should therefore be treated with caution.
	2. The average time has been calculated using the Atos Healthcare management information relating to the average time to undertake a work capability assessment as reported against their average actual clearance target of 35 days.
	3. The average time is calculated using the number of working days between a claimant completing the ESA questionnaire and their work capability assessment and measured at a regional level rather than nationally.
	4. The information has been collated from regional data from 11 Government regions from 2009 to June 2011 when the Government offices by region reorganised and reduced to seven regions.
	5. The measurement of the time undertaken to complete the customer journey through to the assessment is heavily reliant on the date which the claimant returns their questionnaire. A significant number of claimants return their questionnaires after 25 days.

Employment Schemes

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has contingency plans for the potential multiple failure of Work programme providers.

Chris Grayling: There are at least two providers in each contract package area and, as all are required to provide full geographical coverage in their areas, there would always be an alternative available to ensure continuity of service. In the unlikely event of multiple provider failure in the same contract area, alternatives could be brought in at short notice from the Framework for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services through which the Work programme was procured.

Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to reach a settlement with the two remaining flexible new deal providers whose contracts were cancelled.

Chris Grayling: Of the 14 providers which held flexible new deal phase 1 contracts, DWP has negotiated settlements agreed with 12 to date. DWP aims to complete remaining negotiations by April 2012.

Employment Schemes: Down’s Syndrome

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will meet representatives of the Down's Syndrome Association to discuss the administrative requirements of support-permitted work.

Chris Grayling: The supported permitted work rules in employment and support allowance (ESA) currently allow claimants in both the Support Group and the Work Related Activity Group to undertake supervised work on an indefinite basis without any restrictions (provided earnings are below the £97.50 a week and the hours worked do not exceed 16 hours a week) as long as the claimant is under the supervision of an appropriate person.
	The permitted work rules strike a delicate but important balance between, on the one hand, encouraging claimants to build their confidence, undertake some part-time paid work, and plan a gradual move to sustained employment, while continuing to receive benefit, and, on the other, providing the incentive for them to move off benefit entirely and into full-time work, in line with the Government's overall approach.
	We are currently considering how the permitted work rules for ESA may change once universal credit is introduced.
	The Department is committed to engaging with organisations representing disabled people on an ongoing basis as part of our wider consultation on the implications of our proposals for welfare reform, to ensure that the social security system supports disabled people and those with health conditions in the most sensitive, fair and appropriate way. As part of this engagement, I would be happy to meet with representatives of the Down's Syndrome Association.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how he plans to distribute payment for each individual youth contract wage subsidy through the lifetime of the placement.

Chris Grayling: For most employers, the wage incentive will be paid after a young person has been in their employment for 26 weeks. Smaller businesses will be entitled to claim a part-payment after eight weeks of employment, with the balance paid after 26 weeks.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Work Programme outcome data to be published in autumn 2012 will include the numbers of job outcomes attributable to (a) the Youth Contract and (b) apprenticeship placements.

Chris Grayling: The details of what we will publish on job outcomes and sustainment payments are still to be finalised.

Housing Benefit

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent in real terms on local housing allowance in each London local authority in (a) April 2010, (b) April 2011 and (c) October 2011; and what estimate he has made of expenditure on local housing allowance in real terms in 2013-14.

Steve Webb: Monthly data on local housing allowance expenditure are not available.
	Annual outturn figures for 2009-10 and 2010-11 by London local authority are provided in table 1, in 2011-12 prices.
	
		
			 Table 1: Real terms local housing allowance expenditure in London local authorities (2011-12 prices) 
			  LHA expenditure (2011/12 prices) (£ million) 
			  2009-10 2010-11 
			 Greater London total 1,399.1 1,908.9 
			 Barking 27.5 40.3 
			 Barnet 69.1 95.2 
			 Bexley 20.3 27.9 
			 Brent 93.9 135.8 
			 Bromley 22.2 29.5 
			 Camden 34.6 42.5 
			 City of London 0.4 0.5 
			 Croydon 64.7 89.4 
			 Ealing 61.7 94.3 
			 Enfield 84.4 128.2 
			 Greenwich 23.4 32.1 
			 Hackney 62.4 85.8 
			 Hammersmith 26.0 31.4 
			 Haringey 61.8 85.8 
			 Harrow 47.4 60.4 
			 Havering 20.1 26.9 
			 Hillingdon 36.5 48.4 
			 Hounslow 36.0 47.4 
			 Islington 27.0 34.4 
			 Kensington & Chelsea 36.0 48.6 
			 Kingston-Upon-Thames 16.6 23.3 
			 Lambeth 38.8 52.4 
			 Lewisham 77.8 89.1 
			 Merton 21.5 30.1 
			 Newham 54.2 75.3 
			 Redbridge 39.3 57.8 
			 Richmond-Upon-Thames 15.3 18.5 
			 Southwark 20.9 30.2 
			 Sutton 19.2 25.5 
			 Tower Hamlets 31.7 46.7 
			 Waltham Forest 45.6 62.7 
			 Wandsworth 78.0 86.6 
			 Westminster 84.7 126.0 
			 Source: Annual Housing Benefit subsidy returns from local authorities, converted into real terms expenditure. 
		
	
	We do not produce estimates of future expenditure at a regional level. National level forecasts from 2011-12 to 2013-14 are given in table 2 as follows.
	
		
			 Table 2: National local housing allowance expenditure forecast (2011-12 prices.) 
			  Total LHA expenditure (2011-12 prices) (£ millions) 
			  All local housing allowance 
			 2011-12 7,605 
			 2012-13 7,783 
			 2013-14 7,907

Housing Benefit

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which local authorities have made representations to his Department on the potential impact of reductions to local housing allowances since September 2010.

Steve Webb: My Department has had and continues to have regular liaison with the Local Authority Associations that represent all 380 local authorities as well as meetings with many individual local authorities. These meetings cover a range of issues including the impact of local housing allowance reforms.

Housing Benefit

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Bromsgrove were in receipt of housing benefit of more than £400 per week in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: Our latest administrative records, for October 2011, show that there were no households in Bromsgrove in receipt of housing benefit of more than £400 per week.

Housing Benefit

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on landlords of the system of payment of housing benefit to tenants rather than to landlords.

Steve Webb: Local housing allowance (LHA), a new way of working out housing benefit for people renting from a private landlord, was introduced in April 2008. An aim of LHA was to improve financial inclusion and help tenants develop the skills needed for work by, wherever possible, paying benefit to claimants.
	Safeguards exist within the housing benefit regulations where a landlord must be paid directly if the tenant is in eight weeks or more rent arrears. Private sector landlords can also be paid directly if the council considers the tenant will either have difficulty managing his or her finances, or it is improbable the tenant will pay his or her rent. In April 2011, we introduced a temporary additional measure where the council can pay a private sector landlord directly if it will help the tenant secure a new tenancy or remain in their current home at a reduced rent.
	Following its introduction, the Government carried out a two-year review of the LHA arrangements to assess its impact on tenants, landlords and other external organisations, which was published in February 2011. Although the review identified some concerns, there was no evidence of landlords moving out of the housing benefit market on a wider scale because of tenants being paid direct. The private rented sector housing benefit case load actually grew over the review period.
	The Department has commissioned an independent consortium of leading research organisations to evaluate the effects of recent LHA changes. The evaluation team is led by Ian Cole of Sheffield Hallam university and includes Peter Kemp (Oxford university) and members from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Ipsos MORI. Early findings from the initial survey will be available in late spring 2012.

Housing Benefit: Armed Forces

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of proposed changes to housing benefit rules on single members of the armed forces who are returning to their family home (a) on leave and (b) at the end of their service.

Steve Webb: No assessment has been made as relevant data is not available. Individuals who return to live in their family home on a permanent basis will be treated as a non-dependant in the claimant's housing benefit assessment and treated as part of the household when establishing whether a household is under-occupying.

Housing Benefit: Scotland

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in receipt of housing benefit in (a) Glenrothes constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK will have their benefit reduced as a result of his proposed changes.

Steve Webb: The estimated number of housing benefit recipients affected by the introduction in 2013-14 of the proposed reduction in housing benefit for working-age claimants under-occupying social housing is:
	(a) not available for parliamentary constituencies;
	(b) 70,000 in Scotland;
	(c) not available for the UK, but 670,000 in Great Britain.
	The estimated impact of proposed changes to housing benefit for working-age tenants living in the social rented sector is based upon information collected in the Department’s Family Resources Survey. Because the survey collects information from a sample of households, we cannot produce reliable estimates for the number of claimants affected by parliamentary constituency.
	Source:
	Department for Work and Pensions Welfare Reform Bill 2011 impact assessment, entitled “Under-occupation of social housing”. The impact assessment can be found at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/social-sector-housing-under-occupation-wr2011-ia.pdf

Independent Living Fund

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2012, Official Report, columns 111-12W, on independent living fund, if he will publish details of the assessment referred to in the answer that the independent living fund was no longer financially or equitably sustainable.

Maria Miller: The trustees of the independent living fund took the decision to close the fund to all new applicants as of June 2010. This decision was taken to ensure this discretionary fund remained within its £348 million budget. The forthcoming consultation document on how existing independent living fund users should be supported in the future will set out the detail of the assessment that led to the decision announced in December 2010 that the fund would remain permanently closed to new users.

Independent Living Fund

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 7 February 2012, Official Report, columns 235-36W, on independent living fund (ILF), with which disability organisations, local government representatives and ILF representatives his Department consulted informally prior to the decision to announce the closure of the independent living fund to new users.

Maria Miller: The closure of this discretionary fund was to stay within its agreed budget. I met a number of organisations to discuss the ILF with the Chair of Equality 2025, the Disability Charities Consortium, the Disabled People’s Organisations Group, the National Centre for Independent Living, the Local Government Association, London Councils and the trustees and management of the independent living fund.

Industrial Health and Safety: Methanol

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Health and Safety Executive is taking steps to discourage the non-commercial and small-scale production of biodiesel which involves volatile chemicals such as methanol.

Chris Grayling: There is a warning on the Health & Safety Executive's website advising against the non-commercial manufacture of biodiesel using domestic or other unsuitable facilities, and by people who are not trained or experienced in handling dangerous substances such as highly flammable methanol. This is because of the serious risk of fire and explosion.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to reply to the letter of 8 December 2011 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Esther Chizambe.

Chris Grayling: Following a thorough search of the Department's correspondence system, we are unable to locate this letter.

New Deal Schemes

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to conclude negotiations on the compensation payable for early termination of Flexible New Deal contracts.

Chris Grayling: Of the 14 providers which held Flexible New Deal Phase 1 contracts, DWP has negotiated settlements agreed with 12 to date. DWP aims to complete remaining negotiations by April 2012.

Olympic Games 2012

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many invitations to attend events at the London 2012 Olympics (a) he, (b) other Ministers in his Department and (c) senior officials in his Department have accepted; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: Details of hospitality received by Ministers and Special Advisers and the most senior officials are published on a quarterly basis and will be available for July-September 2012 in due course.

Pension Protection Fund: Wedgwood Museum

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will consider bringing forward legislative proposals to remove the Wedgwood Museum from the ambit of the Pensions Protection Fund to ensure the Wedgwood Collection is protected.

Steve Webb: The DWP has considered these issues carefully and does not believe it would be appropriate to amend existing pension's legislation to remove the Wedgwood Museum from the ambit of the Pension Protection Fund. To do so could have significant repercussions for the pensions protection regime and could have an impact on wider insolvency law.
	Neither I nor the Pensions Protection Fund would want to see this unique collection needlessly sold off piecemeal, therefore, as one of the company's creditors, the PPF will continue to talk to the administrators and others to find the best way forward for all involved.

Social Security Benefits

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many single people without children in each region of the UK will be affected by the household benefit cap; on what basis they are housed; what out-of-work benefits they receive; and what the average change in income per week will be.

Chris Grayling: Estimates for Great Britain are shown as follows.
	The figures are rounded to the nearest 100, and relate to the financial year 2013-14 when the cap is implemented, and are on the same basis as the impact assessment which was published on 23 January 2012. Following the concessions won in the House of Commons on 1 February, these figures are of course subject to change ahead of the Welfare Reform Bill gaining Royal Assent.
	
		
			 Region Estimated number of single person households affected Median reduction in weekly benefits (£) 
			 East Midlands 200 22 
			 East of England 200 18 
			 London 6,400 30 
			 North East — — 
			 North West 200 32 
			 Scotland 1,000 51 
			 South East 200 28 
			 South West 100 22 
			 Wales 200 48 
			 West Midlands 100 33 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber — — 
		
	
	We are unable to divide these results by the basis they are housed and what out of benefits they receive, as in most areas this would leave fewer than 100 households in each category.
	The impact assessment assumes that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme to move as many into work as possible.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to receive the report of the independent review on passported benefits by the Social Security Advisory Committee.

Maria Miller: The Department for Work and Pensions have received the Social Security Advisory Committee's independent review on passported benefits and we will be publishing their report alongside our response by the end of April 2012.

Social Security Benefits

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) East Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and Humber receive over £26,000 per annum in benefits.

Chris Grayling: The information is not available by parliamentary constituency.
	In April 2013 the Government propose to cap a household's weekly benefit entitlement at £500 for couples and lone parents, and at £350 for single people without children.
	The recent impact assessment (published on 23 January 2012) suggests that 67,000 households may be affected by the household benefit cap. Fewer than 100 households may be affected in East Yorkshire. We estimate that in Yorkshire and Humber around 2,400 households may be affected by the cap.
	Some households are excluded from the cap and so may be able to receive benefits exceeding £26,000, these include:
	Households entitled to working tax credit;
	Households with a claimant, partner or child receiving disability living allowance (or its successor, the personal independence payment), or attendance allowance, or constant attendance allowance; and
	War widows and war widowers.
	These estimates have not been adjusted for the additional easements announced in the House of Commons on 1 February, which include: the exemption of households who were in receipt of the support component of employment and support allowance; and a nine-month grace period for claimants who were in work for 52 weeks or more before the start of their claim.
	Also, the impact assessment assumed that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme to move as many into work as possible.

Social Security Benefits: Liverpool

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in Liverpool, Walton constituency were in receipt of benefits totalling £26,000 or more per annum in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The information is not available by parliamentary constituency.
	In April 2013 the Government propose to cap a household's weekly benefit entitlement at £500 for couples and lone parents, and at £350 for single people without children.
	The recent impact assessment (published on 23 January 2012) suggests that 67,000 households may be affected by the household benefit cap. For Liverpool it is estimated that 400 households may be impacted by the cap.
	Some households are excluded from the cap and so may be able to receive benefits exceeding £26,000, these include:
	Households entitled to working tax credit;
	Households with a claimant, partner or child receiving disability living allowance (or its successor, the personal independence payment), or attendance allowance, or constant attendance allowance; and
	War widows and war widowers.
	These estimates have not been adjusted for the additional easements announced in the House of Commons on 1 February, which include: the exemption of households who were in receipt of the support component of employment and support allowance; and a nine-month grace period for claimants who were in work for 52 weeks or more before the start of their claim.
	Also, the impact assessment assumed that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme to move as many into work as possible.

Social Services

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received on the role of the welfare system in reform of social care; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: DWP Ministers have met with their counterparts in the Department of Health to discuss the important role that the social security system plays, and will continue to play in the care and support system for disabled adults and older people, a system which includes social care services provided by local authorities.

Unemployment Benefits: Territorial Army

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the impact of Territorial Army pay on benefits for unemployed people.

Chris Grayling: The impact of Territorial Army pay on benefits for unemployed people is the subject of ongoing discussions between the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Defence.

Unemployment: Young People

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he proposes that funding for the Youth Contract will be distributed according to (a) population and (b) unemployment in each region of the UK.

Chris Grayling: The Youth Contract will, from April 2012, provide nearly half a million new opportunities for young people over the next three years.
	The distribution of this package of measures will depend on decisions on the detail of provision which are not yet finalised. Further details will be available in due course.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to bring forward final implementation plans for the introduction of universal credit from October 2013.

Chris Grayling: There is presently no intention to publish universal credit programme plans.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what definition he expects to use of the term in work for the purposes of (a) his proposed benefit cap and (b) in work conditionality under the universal credit scheme.

Chris Grayling: We are continuing to develop the approach to conditionality under universal credit. Universal credit is an in and out of work benefit and conditionality requirements will relate to a claimant's earnings and their individual circumstances.
	Households that are entitled to working tax credit will be exempt from the benefit cap. There will be a comparable exemption for claimants of universal credit who are in receipt of earnings and we are still considering the final design for this exemption.

Welfare Reform Bill

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will meet a deputation from organisations to discuss the Welfare Reform Bill.

Chris Grayling: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), Ministers and departmental officials have met with a wide range of representative organisations both before and during the passage of the Welfare Reform Bill and continue to do so.

Welfare Reform Bill

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of people in Hyndburn borough council area who will be affected by each of the benefit caps proposed in the Welfare Reform Bill.

Chris Grayling: Fewer than 100 households in Hyndburn borough council area will be affected.
	The answer relates to the financial year 2013-14 when the cap is implemented, and is on the same basis as the impact assessment which was published on 23 January 2012. Following the concessions won in the House of Commons on 1 February, these figures are of course subject to change ahead of the Welfare Reform Bill gaining Royal Assent.
	The impact assessment assumes that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases, the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme to move as many into work as possible.

Work Capability Assessment

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK who have attended a work capability assessment have been deemed (i) fit and (ii) unfit for work in the last 12 months.

Chris Grayling: The following table shows completed employment and support allowance (ESA) work capability assessments (WCA) taking place between September 2010 to August 2011 (this is the latest 12 month period for which these figures are available). The table also shows the number of fit for work decisions made following these assessments. Information is unavailable for the Jarrow constituency and data for Great Britain are given in place of data for the United Kingdom as data for Northern Ireland is not available. The numbers provided have been rounded to the nearest hundred (as a result, figures may not sum to the totals shown).
	
		
			 Table one: Completed assessments and fit for work decisions—CA outcomes by date of assessment for September 2010 to August 2011 
			  Entitled to employment and support allowance:   
			 Geographical area Work related activity group Support group Either group Fit for work Any outcome 
			 Great Britain 118,800 58,500 177,300 237,300 414,600 
			 North East 5,400 3,500 8,900 18,000 26,900 
			 South Tyneside LA 400 200 600 1,200 1,800 
			 1. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions and functional assessment data from Atos Healthcare. 2. These figures do not include incapacity benefit reassessment claims. 3. A small number of clerical assessments, where the result cannot be determined from DWP benefits data, are excluded from these figures. 
		
	
	The Department regularly publishes data on ESA and the WCA, which can be found on the departmental website here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca
	This information is taken from administrative data held by the Department, assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare and appeals data from Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.

Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people have undergone the work capability assessment since April 2011, by week;
	(2)  how many people have undergone the work capability assessment since April 2011.

Chris Grayling: The Department regularly publishes official statistics on employment and support allowance (ESA) and the work capability assessment (WCA). The latest report on monthly assessments was published in January 2012 and can be found on the internet at the following link:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca
	Information on a weekly basis is not available.
	Tables 2a and 2b accompanying the bulletin show that between April 2011 and August 2011, the latest information available, 239,200 ESA claims went through the WCA process.
	Figures for the number of existing incapacity benefit (IB) recipients undergoing reassessment for ESA via the WCA are not yet available. The Department plans to publish official statistics on outcomes of the WCA for claimants going through the IB reassessment process and will be announcing publication on the statistics publication hub in due course.

Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people waited longer than 13 weeks to undergo the work capability assessment in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

Chris Grayling: The number of employment and support allowance (ESA) claims where the time between the claim start and the work capability assessment (WCA) decision was longer than 13 weeks, was:
	(a) 147,600 for assessments completed from January to December 2009;
	(b) 236,600 for assessments completed from January to December 2010; and
	(c) 146,800 for assessments completed from January to August 2011 (the latest data available).
	There are a number of reasons why the time between the claim start date and the WCA decision may take longer than 13 weeks. These include the claimant delaying return of the ESA50 form, not being able to attend a face to face WCA with good cause, and awaiting a face to face WCA or DWP decision.
	Employment and support allowance is normally put into payment at an “assessment rate” pending the WCA decision. Where the assessment phase continues longer than 13 weeks because a WCA has not taken place payment continues. For those assessed to be on ESA in the Work Related Activity Group or Support Group following the decision, the components are backdated to week 14 of the claim.
	Notes:
	1. For approximately 17% of all new claims, the duration cannot be determined due to data not being available, so have been excluded from the analysis above. Theses are mainly claims with the one or other of the dates is missing so the time from the claim start to the notification of the WCA decision cannot be calculated.
	2. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions. It related to ESA claims; incapacity benefit claims are not included. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
	3. As the Official Statistics on ESA and the WCA do not focus on benefit durations, the underlying data used to provide the information has not been quality assured to the same level, and should be treated with caution.

Work Capability Assessment: Parkinson’s Disease

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people suffering from (a) Parkinson’s disease, (b) MS, (c) cancer and (d) dementia have undergone multiple work capability assessments.

Chris Grayling: The following table shows those claimants who had more than one work capability assessment (WCA) between October 2008 and August 2011, whose main health condition was recorded as Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, cancer or dementia when they first claimed ESA.
	All ESA claimants must go through a WCA. For most claimants this will involve a face-to-face assessment but for others, including people undergoing certain types of chemotherapy or who have a serious condition and are judges likely to meet the support group criteria, this is a paper-based assessment.
	It is not possible to provide statistics to show whether someone underwent a face-to-face assessment or a paper-based assessment; only whether they went through the WCA.
	As part of each WCA, it will be determined, based upon the claimant’s condition and medical evidence, when they need to have another assessment. Individuals with more serious conditions where a return to work is unlikely, will only be reassessed after two years, and where possible, this assessment will be paper-based.
	This is because, even for claimants who are unlikely to see an improvement in their health and who are unlikely to sufficiently adapt to their condition, it is important that we do not write them off and are able to offer them further support where necessary.
	We are mindful to avoid face-to-face assessments where possible.
	
		
			 Health condition Number of claimants who have gone through multiple work capability assessments 
			 Parkinson’s disease 440 
			 Multiple Sclerosis 2,020 
			 Cancer 16,750 
			 Dementia 90 
			 Notes: 1. The Department regularly publishes data on ESA and WCA, the latest publication can be found on the departmental website at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca 2. Data on ESA assessments and outcomes is taken from administrative data held by the Department for Work and Pensions and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare. 3. Data are for individuals who have gone through a work capability assessment. It is not possible to ascertain how many individuals went through only a paper-based assessment and how many had a face-to-face assessment. 4. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

Work Capability Assessments: Audio Recordings

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the contribution by the Minister of State in his Department of 1 February 2012, Official Report, columns 291-2WH, how long after the work capability assessment takes place people whose session is audio-recorded will receive a copy of that recording.

Chris Grayling: On the same day as the session is audio-recorded, and on completion of the work capability assessment, the claimant will be handed a copy of their audio recording before they leave the medical assessment centre.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what data Work programme providers are required to collect in order to contribute to the Department’s statistical releases.

Chris Grayling: DWP is developing official statistics on the information recorded by providers on the payment administrative system. The information collected is subject to regular validation checks to ensure providers are paid correctly for job outcomes and sustainment payments claimed, which in turn will help guarantee the accuracy of information which is released. Prior to the release of any figures, DWP will perform extra validation checks to ensure that official statistics meet the appropriate standards for publication.
	Providers have not been given specific instructions regarding the collation of data for the purpose of publishing official statistics, only that they should adhere to the code of practice which can be viewed via the following link:
	http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/code-of-practice-for-official-statistics.pdf
	In addition, the DWP ensures that the national statistician’s guidance on the use of administrative or management information is followed. This can be viewed via the following link:
	http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/ns-reports--reviews-and-guidance/national-statistician-s-guidance/use-of-administrative-or-management-information.pdf

Work Programme

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people sanctions have been applied to under the Work programme since its inception; and what proportion this represents of all recommended sanctions from sub-contractors.

Chris Grayling: The number of individuals who failed to participate in the Work programme resulting in the application of JSA sanction by the end of October 2011 was 7,320. A claimant would be deemed to have failed to participate in the Work programme if they have not complied with any activity they have been mandated to undertake by their provider, without good reason.
	It is not possible to provide any breakdown of JSA sanctions by referral source and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
	Currently employment support allowance sanctions data comes from a different source to JSA sanctions data and we are unable to break this data down by the reason of failing to participate in the Work programme.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 2 February 2012, Official Report, column 800W, on what date he expects to publish the number of voluntary sector providers in the Work programme supply chain identified through the stocktake of 31 January 2012.

Chris Grayling: We intend to publish the findings of the Work programme stocktake of 30 January 2012 by 29 February 2012.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the statement in the Work Programme Prospectus and Invitation to Tender that within existing Welfare to Work supply chains, some 30% of subcontracts are with voluntary sector organisations, which Welfare to Work programmes are referred to.

Chris Grayling: The Welfare to Work programmes referred to are:
	New Deal for Young People (NDYP)
	New Deal 25+
	Employment Zones and Private Sector Led New Deal
	Flexible New Deal (FND)
	Young Person's Guarantee (YPG) and the 6 Month Offer (6MO)
	New Deal for Disabled People (NDDP) contracts and Condition Management Programme (CMP)
	Provider Led Pathways to Work
	Progress to Work and Progress to Work Linkup.

Work Programme: Employment and Support Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on voluntary sector providers' viability of 106,000 fewer employment and support allowance claimants moving onto the Work programme in 2010-11 than was estimated at the beginning of the programme.

Chris Grayling: The Department has implemented some process changes to the Work programme to maximise the number of ESA claimants joining provision and continues to monitor the situation. In addition, an independent evaluation of the Work programme will explore the experiences of organisations within the supply chain, including those from the voluntary sector. Any concerns about ESA referral volumes should be highlighted by the evaluation. Interim findings will be available mid 2013 with a final report published in 2014-15.

HEALTH

Accidents: Cycling

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the NHS of treating people involved in cycling accidents who were not wearing a cycle helmet in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011;
	(2)  how many people were admitted to hospital as a result of cycling accidents in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The information requested on the cost of treating people injured in cycling accidents is not collected centrally.
	The following table shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs), where there was a cause code relating to an accident involving a pedal cycle, for the financial years 2006-07 to 2010-11. The data includes episodes where the cyclist was injured in the accident and also episodes where someone else was injured by the cyclist.
	
		
			 Activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  FAEs 
			 2010-11 16,423 
			 2009-10 15,962 
			 2008-09 14,013 
			 2007-08 14,033 
			 2006-07 13,679 
			 Notes: 1. Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 2. Cause code A supplementary code that indicates the nature of any external cause of injury, poisoning or other adverse effects. Only the first external cause code which is coded within the episode is counted in HES. 3. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Alexandra Hospital: Redditch

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether organisational changes arising from implementation of the provisions of the Health and Social Care Bill will result in accident and emergency and maternity services being downgraded at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

Simon Burns: The Department has made no such assessment. The provision of national health services, including both maternity and accident and emergency services, is a matter for the NHS locally.

Ambulance Services: Emergency Calls

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many medical 999 calls were made in each region in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011; and what proportion of these calls resulted in ambulance dispatch in each region in each year.

Simon Burns: Information on the number of emergency calls and the number of calls resulting in a response arriving at a scene are published annually by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in the statistical bulletin Ambulance Services England. These data are broken down by each ambulance trust within England.
	The following table shows the number of calls responded to as a proportion of all calls. Data are collected on the number of calls with a response arriving, not on the number of calls resulting in ambulance dispatch. The latest available annual data are for the year 2010-11 (1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011); however, data for 2009-10 is provided to give a two year comparison.
	
		
			 Emergency calls and calls resulting in response arriving at the scene of the incident—by ambulance service, 2009-10 and 2010-11 
			 Thousand 
			  2009-10 2010-11 
			 Ambulance service Emergency calls Calls resulting in response arriving at scene Proportion of calls with responses arriving of all emergency calls ( Percentage ) Emergency calls Calls resulting in response arriving at scene Proportion of calls with responses arriving of all emergency calls ( Percentage ) 
			 England 7,867.9 6,415.2 81.5 8,077.5 6,606.5 81.8 
			 North East 431.8 353.7 81.9 458.5 361.5 78.8 
			 North West 1,064.1 893.1 83.9 1,074.4 901.3 83.9 
			 Yorkshire 710.9 598.9 84.2 725.3 615.9 84.9 
			 East Midlands 692.9 573.6 82.8 723.5 595.4 82.3 
			 West Midlands 844.1 708.8 84.0 863.8 730.4 84.6 
			 East of England 778.1 668.5 85.9 821.2 693.4 84.4 
			 London 1,480.3 1,012.9 68.4 1,494.2 1,058.1 70.8 
			 South East Coast 619.2 561.3 90.7 653.9 581.0 88.9 
			 South Central 494.7 383.2 77.5 494.9 390.1 78. 
			 Great Western 295.9 256.2 86.6 303.3 262.8 86.6 
			 South Western 435.5 387.4 88.9 442.9 397.9 89.8 
			 Isle of Wight 20.4 17.5 86.0 21.4 18.6 87.1 
			 Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre, Form KA34.

Antenatal Care

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of women did not receive the number of antenatal appointments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in each maternity unit in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Anne Milton: Information on the number of antenatal appointments attended by pregnant women in 2010 and 2011 is not currently available at the maternity unit level.
	The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends a schedule of 10 antenatal appointments for nulliparous (first time mothers) women with an uncomplicated pregnancy, and seven antenatal appointments for parous (has previously given birth) women with an uncomplicated pregnancy.
	The Care Quality Commission surveyed, women's experiences of maternity services in England, 2010, 32% of respondents had seven to nine antenatal check-ups, and 16% of respondents had 10 to 14 antenatal check-ups. The results do not allow for a comparison between nulliparous and parous women. The total number of respondents were 23,226.

Aortic Aneurysm

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which primary care trusts include fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair in their commissioning policy;
	(2)  whether his Department has assessed the effectiveness of fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair.

Simon Burns: Fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (fEVAR) is currently commissioned as part of vascular services by the 10 Specialised Commissioning Groups. We do not therefore hold centrally the information requested.
	The Department has not carried out a separate assessment of the effectiveness of fEVAR.

Avian Influenza

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials from his Department he expects to attend the forthcoming conference on the H5N1 flu virus in Geneva.

Anne Milton: The forthcoming conference in Geneva is a technical consultation on the laboratory-created H5N1 research, open to technical experts directly involved with the studies. Therefore, it would not be appropriate for either a Minister or officials from the Department to attend.

Benzodiazepines

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding his Department provided to the National Treatment Agency for treatment of drug addicts prescribed benzodiazepines between 1 April 2011 and 31 December 2011.

Anne Milton: The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) does not provide or commission drug treatment services. The Grant-in Aid from the Department to the NTA is £10.3 million for the 2011-12 financial year.
	Funding allocated by the Department to local partnerships for drug treatment is not ear-marked or ring-fenced for specific drugs. It is for local areas to determine the appropriate services to commission based on their assessment of local need.
	The Department provided a total of £406.7 million to local areas as a contribution to local drug treatment in the 2011-12 financial year.

Benzodiazepines

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2012, Official Report, column 675W, on benzodiazepines, on what evidence he based his conclusion GPs have the (a) expertise and (b) resources to withdraw patients iatrogenically addicted to tranquillisers.

Anne Milton: Guidance on the prescribing of benzodiazepines is provided in the Summary of Product Characteristics for individual products and in the British National Formulary, which is sent to all doctors within the national health service. This includes information about the risk of dependence and withdrawal reactions as well as details of any known interactions.
	General practitioner knowledge and expertise is further supported by the work of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Benzodiazepines

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2012, Official Report, column 675W, on benzodiazepines, if he will provide a list of specialist services available to support people who wish to cease using the product referred to in his answer.

Anne Milton: Local areas are responsible for commissioning appropriate services to meet local need. Data returns on the characteristics of the treatment population show that most areas in the country have services in place to support people who develop dependence on over-the-counter and prescribed drugs. However, the Department does not hold a central record of which providers are supplying these services to local commissioners.
	Last September, I convened a roundtable discussion on the issue of addiction to medicines, which identified a number of concrete actions to take forward. These include actions to improve the local commissioning to service to respond to addiction to medicines and improve access to treatment and support. These actions will be reviewed when the roundtable group reconvenes in March 2012.

Breasts: Plastic Surgery

Steve Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Warley of 18 January 2012, Official Report, column 875W, on plastic surgery: breasts, what progress has been made on obtaining information about the number of women with PIP breast implants; and if he will inform any women who have had reconstructive breast surgery after treatment for breast cancer whether they have received PIP implants.

Simon Burns: Our latest estimate is that some 745 women received PIP implants through treatment in national health service hospitals, excluding those women whose implants have already been removed. The majority of these will have had reconstructive breast surgery after treatment for breast cancer but an exact breakdown is not available. Comparable information for private hospitals is not yet available.
	NHS hospitals are making good progress in contacting all women who received PIP implants through the NHS and are expected to complete this within the next few days. Any woman who has had reconstructive breast surgery and has not yet been contacted, but is unsure whether her implant was a PIP implant or not, should seek advice from her general practitioner or from the hospital clinic involved.

Breasts: Plastic Surgery

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his policy on the replacement of PIP implants will be time limited; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: There can be no time limit to the duty of care which a health care organisation owes to its patients. If a woman has received PIP implants as part of national health service treatment, the NHS will remove and replace the implants at any time if that is what the woman and her doctor decide. We expect private providers to do the same.

Cancer: Health Education

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was spent by his Department on research and raising awareness of (a) breast cancer and (b) prostate cancer in each year since 2005.

Paul Burstow: Information on the Department's spend on breast and prostate cancer awareness activity in each year since 2005 has been presented in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Breast Prostate 
			 2005-06 27,236 89,400 
			 2006-07 54,504 206,952 
			 2007-08 87,578 126,000 
			 2008-09 21,702 135,000 
			 2009-10 30,715 437,000 
			 2010-11 3,778,791 276,500 
			 2011-12 921,431 102,000 
			 Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest pound. 2. 2005 figures for breast cancer do not include storage and distribution costs of breast cancer awareness literature as these were unavailable for this year. 3. In 2009-10 £86,000 (of the £437,000) in funding for prostate cancer awareness also funded activity for bowel and lung cancer. 4. In 2010-11 £7,500 (of the £276,500) in funding for prostate cancer awareness also funded activity for bowel and lung cancer. 5. In 2010-11 £3,745,000 (of the £3,778,791) in funding for breast cancer awareness activity also funded activity for either bowel cancer, lung cancer or both. 6. The 2011-12 spend for prostate cancer is forecasted end of year expenditure. 
		
	
	Figures for the Department's total expenditure on research on breast and prostate cancers in each year since 2005 are not available. Prior to the establishment of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in April 2006, the main part of the Department's total health research expenditure was devolved to and managed by national health service organisations. From April 2006 to March 2009, transitional research funding was allocated to these organisations at reducing levels. The organisations have accounted for their use of the allocations they have received from the Department in an annual research and development report. The reports identify total, aggregated expenditure on national priority areas, including cancer. They do not provide details of research into particular cancer sites.
	The NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) is currently hosting 103 studies in breast cancer, and 37 in prostate cancer, that are in set-up or recruiting patients. Expenditure by the CRN on research into particular cancer sites cannot be disaggregated from total CRN expenditure.

Cancer: Radiotherapy

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the National Cancer Action Team has allocated a costing code for (a) Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy and (b) Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy.

Paul Burstow: The National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) has not allocated a costing code for stereotactic body radiation therapy (now known as stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, SABR) as it is not NCATs responsibility to allocate costing codes for cancer treatments.
	NHS Connecting for Health is reviewing the existing International Statistical Classification of Diseases and OPCS Classification of Interventions and Procedures codes used for radiotherapy and the NHS Information Centre is reviewing the Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) classification system design (also known as the ‘currency’) for radiotherapy services. Changes made to coding and the HRG classification system may mean the inclusion of new codings for different forms of radiotherapy. These will ultimately feed through into the costs that are collected and the tariffs that are set for radiotherapy services.

Cancer: Republic of Ireland

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the incidence of different cancers (a) among individuals of Irish ethnicity living in the UK and (b) nationally; what the level of screening uptake is in each case; and what steps he is taking to (i) increase awareness, (ii) promote screening and (iii) address lifestyle factors that may contribute to a greater risk of cancer among individuals of Irish ethnicity.

Paul Burstow: No assessment has been made of the incidence of different cancers or the rates of screening uptake among individuals of Irish ethnicity living in the United Kingdom or nationally. Screening data is not broken down by ethnicity, and incidence data, where broken down by ethnicity, has only been presented by the major ethnic groupings of 'White', 'Asian', 'Black', 'Chinese', 'mixed' and 'other'. The ethnic grouping 'White' includes 'White British', 'White Irish' and 'Other White'.
	In terms of activity to promote cancer awareness, screening uptake and lifestyle factors that can increase the risk of cancer among individuals of Irish ethnicity, the National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) is working in partnership with the Federation of Irish Societies to produce a health supplement to increase both the early signs of cancer and increase screening uptake. The supplement, which has been developed as part of the 'Cancer Does Not Discriminate' Campaign, will be launched around the St Patrick's Day celebrations in March 2012 and will be distributed through two Irish newspapers and by 120 Irish groups and organisations across England. Negotiations are also taking place with the Irish Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to distribute the supplement there.
	NCAT also funded the Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness week 2011 (11 July to 17 July) which provided a number of small grants to community organisations across the country to hold awareness events. Over 27 events were held across England, a number of which were targeted at the Irish community. NCAT also supports the National BME Cancer Alliance working together to improve outcomes for those affected by cancer from black and minority ethnic communities. The Irish Federation of societies is an active member of the 18 organisations that form the alliance.

Care Homes: Dartford

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many inspections were carried out by the Care Quality Commission on care homes which involved on-site visits in Dartford constituency during 2010-11.

Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England.
	The CQC took over the regulation of health and adult social care under the Care Standards Act 2000 on 1 April 2009. Since 1 October 2010, independent health care providers and adult social care providers have been regulated under the new framework under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
	The CQC has provided the following information:
	In the year April 2010 to March 2011 the CQC carried out seven inspections of care homes which included a site visit in the Dartford constituency.. This figure includes inspections under the Care Standards Act 2000 (to 30 September 2010) and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (from 1 October 2010).

Care Quality Commission

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times the Care Quality Commission has taken enforcement action in the last 12 months.

Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England and is responsible for developing and consulting on its methodology for assessing whether providers are meeting the registration requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the 2008 Act).
	All providers of regulated activities must be registered with the CQC and continue to meet a set of registration requirements setting out essential levels of safety and quality.
	Failure to comply with the requirements is an offence, and under the 2008 Act, the CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers that it can use if the provider is not compliant.
	The following information has been provided by the CQC:
	
		
			 Completed enforcement processes under the Health and Social Care Act 
			  Warning notice Variation of provider registration Cancellation of registration 
			 2011    
			 January 7 — 1 
			 February 7 4 1 
			 March 8 — — 
			 April 3 5 1 
			 May 25 8 2 
			 June 24 — 3 
			 July 18 — 2 
			 August 41 6 2 
			 September 85 8 5 
			 October 63 3 2 
			 November 80 9 5 
			 December 57 — 1 
			     
			 2012    
			 January 73 1 3 
			 February 19 2 — 
			 Total 510 46 28 
			 Notes: 1. The figures contain duplication where the enforcement process has been applied to more than one regulated activity. 2. Figures shown are for fully completed processes only and so may not match previously published figures showing actions initiated. Figures from more recent months (late 2011) may be subject to change. The aggregate figures may rise if the information is captured by the system in a subsequent month. 3. The months shown are based on the end dates of processes. 4. In addition, there were four instances of registration being refused and one notice of proposal to suspend registration recorded on the regional enforcement spreadsheets. 5. Cancellations of registration covers provider and manager cancellation processes.

Cervical Cancer: East of England

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many 
	(1)  women aged 25 to 64 years in the Great Yarmouth area took up an invitation for cervical cancer screening in each year since 2007;
	(2)  invitations were sent out by NHS Norfolk and Waveney for cervical cancer screenings in each year since 2007.

Paul Burstow: Information concerning the number of women aged 25 to 64 years in the Great Yarmouth area who took up an invitation for cervical screening in each year since 2007 cannot be provided in the format requested.
	Information on the number of women screened and screening coverage for women in the routine screening age range of 25 to 64 years for Great Yarmouth and Waveney Primary Care Trust (PCT) area has been provided in the following table. Coverage is the percentage of women in a population who were eligible for screening at a particular point in time and who were screened adequately within a specified period. For women aged 25 to 64 coverage is calculated as the number of women in this age group who have had an adequate screening test within the last five years, as a percentage of the eligible population aged 25 to 64.
	
		
			  Number of women screened (thousands) Coverage (less than five years since last adequate test) (percentage) 
			 2007-08 12.1 80.0 
			 2008-09 13.1 80.5 
			 2009-10 11.9 80.3 
			 2010-11 11.8 79.7 
			 Notes: 1. The source of these data is the KC53 statistical return from the cervical screening programme call and recall system. 2. The number of women screened excludes those women who had one or more tests during the year, all of which were classified as 'inadequate'. 3. Coverage is calculated at 31 March each year. 
		
	
	Information concerning the number of invitations sent out by NHS Norfolk and Waveney for cervical cancer screenings in each year since 2007 cannot be provided in the format requested. Information for NHS Norfolk and Waveney as a PCT cluster is not recorded. However, figures are available for Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT and Norfolk PCT, which make up NHS Norfolk and Waveney.
	The following tables show the numbers of women invited for cervical screening from 2007-08 through to 2010-11. The table shows the numbers of women invited in the 25-64 age group, which is the current target age group for cervical screening, and also for women of all ages. Women over the age of 65 are invited if their previous three tests were not clear or if they have never been screened.
	
		
			 Total women invited (25-64 years) 
			  Norfolk PCT Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT 
			 2007-08 56,910 15,322 
			 2008-09 43,890 13,553 
			 2009-10 49,155 14,695 
			 2010-11 54,932 15,181 
		
	
	
		
			 Total women invited (all ages) 
			  Norfolk PCT Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT 
			 2007-08 59,106 15,848 
			 2008-09 45,271 14,016 
			 2009-10 50,993 15,227 
			 2010-11 56,505 15,631 
			 Note: The source of this data is the KC53 (part B) statistical return from the cervical screening programme call and recall system.

Chlamydia Infection: Screening

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) men and (b) women were screened by each local Chlamydia screening programme in (i) 2011 and (ii) 2010.

Anne Milton: Figures on the number of Chlamydia tests in young people aged 15 to 24, for 2010 and January to September 2011, have, been placed in the Library. These include the number of tests reported to the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP), genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics and laboratory reports of Chlamydia tests outside of GUM not reported directly to the NCSP (non NCSP and GUM), by sex and primary care trust of residence in England.

Contraceptives

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent representations his Department has received on commissioners restricting access to contraceptive services on the basis of (a) age, (b) place of residence and (c) type of contraceptive method;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the possible effects of primary care trust restrictions on the prescribing or availability through general practice or other commissioned contraceptive services of (a) methods of emergency contraception, (b) long-acting reversible contraceptive methods and (c) other contraceptive methods on (i) public health outcomes and (ii) abortion rates.

Anne Milton: Over the last six months, the Department has received a small number of representations from clinicians and voluntary sector organisations on the current commissioning of contraception by primary care trusts (PCTs) and access to certain types of contraception by certain age groups.
	Current legislation requires PCTs to provide open-access contraception services for all people in their local areas, and to provide reasonable access to all methods of contraception. However, it is for PCTs themselves, with their knowledge of local need, to determine how they can best fulfil the legislative requirements.
	Statistics on conceptions (published by the Office for National Statistics) and abortions (published by the Department of Health) do not suggest that any recent changes to contraception provision offered by PCTs has had an impact on the number or rate of conceptions or abortions.

Dance Movement Therapy

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the merits of giving dance-movement psychotherapists similar (a) professional recognition and (b) statutory regulation to that applying to arts psychotherapists.

Anne Milton: The Government do not consider that a case has been made for the regulation of dance-movement therapists.
	While compulsory statutory regulation is sometimes necessary where significant risks to users of services cannot be mitigated in other ways, it is not always the most proportionate or effective means of assuring the safe and effective care of service users.
	For the overwhelming majority of groups not currently subject to statutory regulation, including those recommended by the Health Professions Council for statutory regulation in the past, the Government consider that assured voluntary registration would be the preferred option.
	The statutory framework for a system of assured voluntary registration, is being taken forward through the Health and Social Care Bill, which would allow employers, providers, commissioners and service users to assure themselves that practitioners they contract with meet high standards of training, conduct and competence.

Dental Health

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of admissions to hospital via accident and emergency departments were related to dental problems in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Simon Burns: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Finished admission episodes (FAEs) (1)  where the admission was via accident and emergency (A&E), for all admissions and those where the consultant main specialty (2)  was recorded as dentistry (3)  for 2009-10 and 2010-11 
			 Activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  Total A&E admissions under 'Dental' consultants All A&E admissions (4) Proportion of admissions to hospital via A&E which were under 'Dental' consultants (percentage) 
			 2009-10 20,317 3,968,881 0.51 
			 2010-11 21,285 4,104,995 0.52 
			 (1) Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. (2 ) Consultant Main Specialty The specialty under which the consultant responsible for the care of the patient at that time is registered. Take care when analysing Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data by specialty, or by groups of specialties (such as "acute"). Trusts have different ways of managing specialties and attributing codes so it is better to analyse by specific diagnoses, operations or other patient or service information. (3 ) Consultant Main Specialty Codes 140 Oral Surgery 141 Restorative Dentistry 142 Paediatric Dentistry (available from 1999-2000) 143 Orthodontics 145 Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgery (available from 2004-05) 147 Periodontics 146 Endodontics 148 Prosthodontics (4) Admission via A&E Admissions where the method of admission is recorded as 21—Emergency Admission via A&E 28—Emergency Admission—Other (including A&E of a different provider) Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Assessing growth through time: HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures, which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Dental Services

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people saw an NHS dentist at least once in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Simon Burns: Information is not available in the format requested.
	The number of patients seen by a national health service dentist in the previous. 24 months, in England, is available in Table 3a of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England—2011/12, First quarterly report”. Information is available at quarterly intervals from 30 June 2009 to 30 September 2011.
	Note that the 'patients seen' measure shows the number of patients who received NHS dental care in the previous 24 months: an equivalent measure covering the 12 month period is not available.
	This report, published on 24 November 2011, has been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalstats1112q1

Dental Services: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of NHS dentists required to meet demand for NHS dental care in (a) Cumbria and (b) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency.

Simon Burns: Decisions about the provision of local health services, including NHS dental care services, are a matter for the local national health service.
	Details on future plans for investment in NHS dental care services in the Cumbria area can be obtained from Cumbria Teaching primary care trust.

Departmental Manpower

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were on his Department’s payroll in (a) June 2010, (b) June 2011 and (c) January 2012.

Simon Burns: The numbers of civil servants on the Department’s payroll for specific dates are presented in the following table.
	
		
			  Full-time equivalent staff 
			 30 June 2010 2,596 
			 30 June 2011 2,393 
			 31 January 2012 2,311

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the special advisers in his Department have declared any external employment in the last 12 months.

Simon Burns: None of the special advisers has declared any external employment while working for the Department.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department does not keep central records of procurements where capital bonds have been or will be required. Inquiries have been made of the directorates across the Department that have responsibility for managing contracts, and they report that they do not routinely require capital bonds, have no record of their use in 2011-12 and have no plans to use them in the remainder of this period.

Doctors: Pay

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many doctors working in clinical commissioning groups are being paid an hourly or sessional rate and also having an additional payment made either to themselves or their practice for the provision of locum cover;
	(2)  how many doctors working in clinical commissioning groups have had their hourly or sessional rate approved by the Treasury;
	(3)  whether a requirement exists for Treasury approval for any doctor working in clinical commissioning groups and receiving a payment that pro-rata would be higher than the salary of the Prime Minister;
	(4)  how many doctors working in clinical commissioning groups receive an hourly or sessional rate that if paid on a full-time rate would be higher than the salary of the Prime Minister;
	(5)  how many doctors working in clinical commissioning groups are being paid on (a) an hourly or (b) sessional rate.

Simon Burns: Information on remuneration for doctors working for emerging clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) is not held centrally.
	Once established, the governing body of a CCG will have the responsibility to determine remuneration, fees and allowances payable to employees of the CCG and to those that provide services to the CCG.
	Each clinical commissioning group will have a limit on administrative spending placed upon it by the NHS Commissioning Board and it is up to each clinical commissioning group to determine how much of that envelope it spends on pay.

Eating Disorders

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of (a) anorexia and (b) bulimia were diagnosed in each region for patients of each (i) age group and (ii) sex in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011.

Paul Burstow: We have not collected the exact data requested, however, comprehensive statistics on the prevalence of eating disorders for 2007 can be found in the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey and the following tables show breakdowns of the data collected in 2007 by age, gender and Government office region for eating disorders.
	
		
			 Screen positive for eating disorder in the past year, by region (1)  and sex, 2007 
			 Percentage 
			  Government office region Strategic health authority 
			 SCOFF score North East North West Yorks and the Humber East Midlands West Midlands East of England London South West South East South East Coast South Central 
			 Men            
			 Two or more(2) 3 4.8 2.7 2.7 4.6 3.1 2.8 3.7 3.6 3.1 4.1 
			 Two or more with significant impact 0.6 0.9 0.4 — 1 0.4 0.6 1 0.4 0.8 — 
			             
			 Women            
			 Two or more(2) 6.8 9.6 9.1 10.6 10.4 7.5 10.3 9.2 8.4 9.3 7.4 
			 Two or more with significant impact 2.5 2.7 2.2 1.6 3.5 1.3 2.4 3.5 2.6 2.4 2.7 
			 (1) This table provides data for regional analysis both by Government office region (GOR) and strategic health authorities (SHAs). The first eight columns represent GORs and SHAs of the same name, while the South East GOR (column nine) is divided into South East Coast SHA and South Central SHA, shown in the final two columns. (2) The ‘two or more’ group includes those with a SCOFF score of two or more and reporting significant impact. Note: The SCOFF screening tool for eating disorders was administered to respondents as part of the self-completion section of the interview. Endorsement of two or more items represented a positive screen for eating disorder. This threshold indicates that clinical assessment for eating disorder is warranted. Source: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England, 2007 Survey. 
		
	
	
		
			 Screen positive for eating disorder in past year, by age and sex, 2007 
			 Percentage 
			  Age group  
			 SCOFF score 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+ All 
			 Men         
			 Two or more(1) 6.1 5.1 3.3 3.7 2 1.5 0.5 3.5 
			 Two or more with significant impact 1.7 0.7 0.3 0.8 0.1 0.3 — 0.6 
			          
			 Women         
			 Two or more(1) 20.3 12.6 10 9.9 3.9 2.4 0.9 9.2 
			 Two or more with significant impact 5.4 3.6 2.5 3.1 0.9 0.6 0.1 2.5 
			 (1) The ‘two or more’ group includes those with a SCOFF score of two or more and reporting significant impact. Note: The SCOFF screening tool for eating disorders was administered to respondents as part of the self-completion section of the interview. Endorsement of two or more items represented a positive screen for eating disorder. This threshold indicates that clinical assessment for eating disorder is warranted. Source: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England, 2007 Survey.

Food Standards Agency: Expenditure

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Food Standards Agency spent on direct commissioning of scientific research projects in the last year for which figures are available; how much of this was spent on research into anecdotal reports of food intolerance; and what steps the agency takes to ensure the (a) value for money and (b) scientific credibility of such projects before commissioning them.

Anne Milton: The overall spend by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on science and evidence gathering work in 2010-11, the last year for which figures are available, was £24.3 million. Further details on how this figure was divided between the strategic themes within the science and evidence portfolio are provided in the Annual Report of the Chief Scientist 2010-11 which can be found at:
	www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/publication/csr1011.pdf
	In 2010-11, £63,930 was spent on one project on reported reactions to the sweetener aspartame.
	The FSA ensures value for money in science and evidence work and the scientific credibility of research prior to commissioning through:
	The development and publication of the Science and Evidence Strategy for 2010 2015, offering a clear vision of how to meet the challenges of delivering safer food for the nation, supported by the annual Forward Evidence Plan;
	The co-funding of research, to the value of £5.2 million in 2010-11, and partnerships with other government departments and funding bodies such as the Research Councils in areas of joint interest;
	A tendering process, including peer review of proposals by external experts to ensure that we commission the best quality research, and within a framework on governance and use of science, on which the FSA is advised by the independent General Advisory Committee on Science; and
	Close monitoring of projects by programme managers and project officers.

Food Standards Agency: Expenditure

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with whom the Food Standards Agency has contracted to undertake research into anecdotal reports of intolerance to dietary intake of low calorie sweeteners; how much it has spent on that project to date; what the total expenditure is likely to be by completion; what progress has been made on the project to date; and if the agency will ensure that the data from the study is made available to the European Food Safety Agency in time to inform its review of the science in this area.

Anne Milton: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has commissioned Hull university to carry out the research on alleged adverse reactions to aspartame. To date £352,357 has been spent on this project.
	A number of individuals who reported reactions after consuming aspartame and of those who normally consume foods containing aspartame without reporting reactions have been recruited. However, additional recruitment, which will increase costs, will be necessary and the FSA is currently in discussion with the contractors concerning the remaining work to complete the study.
	The FSA is aware that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is reviewing aspartame and that it is very interested in this particular United Kingdom study, the FSA will inform EFSA about the expected date the results will be available.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of how the indicators in his Public Health Outcomes Framework for sexual and reproductive health reflect the life course approach as set out in Healthy Lives, Healthy People: transparency in outcomes, proposals for a public health outcomes framework; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: “Improving Outcomes and Supporting Transparency: a public health outcomes framework for England”, published on 23 January 2012, and a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, contains indicators which, when taken together, will contribute to increasing healthy life expectancy and reducing health inequalities across the life course. Individual indicators within the framework may have more relevance to some age groups than others, according to evidence on where the greatest risks to health lie.
	The Public Health Outcomes Framework contains indicators on reducing under 18 conceptions, on chlamydia diagnoses in the 15 to 24 age group and on reducing the number of people presenting with HIV at a late stage of infection. There is high quality data available to measure these indicators, and all cover a range of significant risks.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans his Department has to include outcome indicators for sexual and reproductive health in its forthcoming sexual health policy document;
	(2)  whether he proposes that outcome indicators in the forthcoming sexual health policy document will take a life course approach as set out in Healthy Lives, Healthy People: transparency in outcomes, proposals for a public health outcomes framework; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The sexual health policy document will set sexual health improvement in the context of health modernisation and the proposed new commissioning arrangements. It will promote the evidence base for improving sexual health, including behaviour change and links to wider public health issues. It will not contain any additional sexual health indicators, but will instead give service commissioners the evidence and tools they need to set locally-based indicators, should they wish to do so, to improve the sexual health of their local populations.

Health

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what new resources he plans to provide areas with the highest rates of (a) obesity-related and (b) alcohol-related ill health.

Anne Milton: From 2013-14 the Department intends to allocate a ring-fenced public health grant; targeted for health inequalities; to upper-tier and unitary local authorities for improving the health and wellbeing of local populations.
	The Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation has advised on the public health allocation formula, to inform the distribution of the public health grant across local authorities. Their recommendations will be published in the coming weeks.
	It will be for local authorities to decide local spending priorities in light of their Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and joint health and wellbeing strategies.

Health

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to review and update the indicators set out in the Public Health Outcomes Framework; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The Public Health Outcomes Framework is intended to apply for a three-year period, but with annual reviews to reflect improved data quality and technical developments and to ensure continued alignment with the national health service and adult social care frameworks.
	We will continue to work closely with a wide range of stakeholders in further developing the framework, including local government, the NHS, third sector organisations, professional groups and other interested parties.

Health Services: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on (a) primary and (b) acute health care in (i) Cumbria, (ii) South Cumbria and (iii) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Simon Burns: Information showing the purchase of primary and secondary health care in each year since 2004-05 by primary care trusts (PCTs) in Cumbria is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 £000 
			 Organisation Total primary health care purchased Total secondary health care purchased 
			 2004-05   
			 Carlisle and District PCT 38,209 99,050 
			 Eden Valley PCT 21,728 61,213 
		
	
	
		
			 West Cumbria PCT 41,900 119,355 
			 Morecambe Bay PCT 91,673 286,440 
			    
			 2005-06   
			 Carlisle and District PCT 37,904 100,733 
			 Eden Valley PCT 23,571 68,163 
			 West Cumbria PCT 44,062 121,862 
			 Morecambe Bay PCT 102,567 307,787 
			    
			 2006-07   
			 Cumbria PCT 176,609 481,027 
			    
			 2007-08   
			 Cumbria PCT 188,795 518,901 
			    
			 2008-09   
			 Cumbria PCT 192,042 556,150 
			    
			 2009-10   
			 Cumbria PCT 200,016 614,207 
			    
			 2010-11   
			 Cumbria PCT 222,443 646,995 
			 Notes: 1. The lowest level of detail at which financial data are collected by the Department for statutory accounting is by PCT. Data by constituency are not held centrally. 2. In 2006, Cumbria PCT was formed following a merger of four predecessor PCTs (Carlisle and District PCT, Eden Valley PCT, West Cumbria PCT and part of Morecambe Bay PCT). Morecambe Bay PCT was split across two PCTs. It is not possible to disaggregate the figures for the part which merged to become Cumbria PCT. 3. The figures provided for 2004-05 and 2005-06 are therefore the sum of the equivalent figures in the predecessor PCTs. 4. The figures are taken from the audited summarisation schedules, from which the NHS (England) Summarised Accounts are prepared. 5. In common with many other public and private sector organisations, the Department only holds accounting data at organisation level for seven years, and therefore 2004-05 is the first year for which data can be provided. Source: 2004-05 to 2010-11 PCT audited summarisation schedules

Health Services: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to reduce inequalities in respect of (a) health outcomes and (b) life expectancy in Cumbria.

Anne Milton: The Government are committed to reducing health inequalities by tackling the differences in access to, and outcomes of, national health service treatment; addressing the wider, social causes of ill health and early death; and improving individual healthy lifestyles.
	The public health white paper outlines a vision for a public health system, which puts local authorities at its heart and announced the establishment of Public Health England. The two main principles include empowering individuals and communities to address their own health and wellbeing needs; and a commitment to a locally-driven system, with directors of public health and their colleagues in local authorities influencing and driving action in communities.
	The Health and Social Care Bill proposes legal duties for NHS commissioners and the Secretary of State for Health around tackling inequalities. Subject to parliamentary approval, the NHS Commissioning Board and clinical commissioning groups will each be under a duty to have regard to the need to reduce inequalities in access to, and the outcomes of, healthcare.
	The Secretary of State will have a wider duty, to have regard to the need to reduce inequalities relating to the health service (including both NHS and public health).
	Responding to the analysis set out in the Marmot review of inequalities, Public Health England will also play a key role in tackling inequalities. From 2013-14, the Department intends to allocate a ring-fenced public health grant, targeted for health inequalities, to upper-tier and unitary local authorities for improving the health and well being of local populations.
	Within a broad strategy to tackle health inequalities across the country, the health needs of the most vulnerable people will be addressed through the Inclusion Health programme, which will focus on improving access and outcomes for vulnerable groups.
	Subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill, Public Health England is to be created in April 2013 and will deliver the government's vision of a strong, integrated, public health service encompassing the three domains of public health: health protection, health improvement and health services.
	The NHS is responsible for action to reduce health inequalities locally. Information on local plans to tackle health inequalities and progress already made in Cumbria can be obtained from NHS Cumbria.

Health Services: Foreign Nationals

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library how much unpaid debt was owed to the NHS for the treatment of foreign nationals from each country in the latest period for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The Department does not hold this information.

Health Services: Greater London

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will provide strategic leadership for London's health services from April 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The key focus of strategic thinking in London, as elsewhere, will be the joint strategic needs assessment and joint health and well-being strategy produced by clinical commissioning groups and local authorities through Health and Well-being Boards.
	In some cases, where a wider geographical focus, is heeded, such as specialised commissioning, the NHS Commissioning Board will, working with others, provide leadership through its sub-national arrangements.

Health Services: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the Cabinet Secretary for Health in the Scottish Government; and when he next plans to meet the Cabinet Secretary for Health in the Scottish Government.

Simon Burns: The Secretary of State for Health last met with the Cabinet Secretary for Health in the Scottish Government on 10 February 2012. No further meetings have currently been arranged.

Health Visitors: Manpower

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health visitors there were in each (a) region and (b) primary care trust in terms of (i) headcount and (ii) full-time equivalent staff in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011.

Anne Milton: Information relating to 2011 will be available from April 2012.
	A table containing data for 2010 has been placed in the Library.

Hospices: Finance

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding the Government has provided for hospices in each year since 2007.

Paul Burstow: The Department does not provide funding to adult hospices; this is the responsibility of primary care trusts. The Department has provided some capital funding support to hospices: £50 million in 2006, later increased to £54 million, most of which was allocated during 2007 to 2009, and £40 million in 2010-11.
	The Department provides funding for children's hospices through the children's hospice and hospice-at-home grant scheme. Annual allocations are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2007-08 9 
			 2008-09 9 
			 2009-10 10 
			 2010-11 10 
			 2011-12 10

Hospitals: Cleaning Services

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he is planning a deep clean of hospitals in 2012.

Simon Burns: There are no plans to undertake a national deep clean programme in the national health service, however, trusts' strategic and operational cleaning plans should make provision for ongoing deep cleaning activity. All hospitals are required to provide a clean safe environment for healthcare to ensure their continuing registration with the Care Quality Commission. High standards of cleanliness support continued reductions in healthcare associated infections.
	Patients rightly expect hospitals to be clean and the new patient-led inspections of wards announced by the Prime Minster in January 2012 will provide them with a voice that can be heard in any discussion about local standards of care.

Hospitals: Food

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost is of a meal provided to an in-patient in (a) NHS and (b) foundation trust acute hospitals.

Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested.
	In 2010-11, the Department collected data from national health service trusts for the average total daily cost for the provision of all meals and beverages fed to one patient per day. This cost relates to all meals and beverages provided to a patient in a day, not the cost of a single meal. For 2010-11, the average total daily cost across NHS acute hospital trusts was £8.39 and foundation trust acute hospitals was £8.32. The cost is inclusive of all pay and non-pay costs, including provisions, ward issues, disposables, equipment and its maintenance.
	The information has been supplied by the NHS and has not been amended centrally. The accuracy and completeness of the information is the responsibility of the provider organisation.

Hospitals: Private Finance Initiative

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospitals that pay PFI charges (a) will and (b) will not receive additional financial support in 2012-13.

Simon Burns: A review has been undertaken to analyse the extent to which private finance initiative (PFI) schemes are, in themselves, a determinant to why national health service providers may not be clinically or financially viable and where additional support may be needed to address this. This work has determined, so far, that the following organisations will need some additional support to enable them to be sustainable providers of high quality health care services:
	Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust;
	Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust;
	Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust;
	North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust;
	Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;
	South London Healthcare NHS Trust; and
	St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust.
	To meet the criteria for such support, this shortlist of affected trusts will need to demonstrate that they had met four key tests:
	the problems they face should be exceptional and beyond those faced by other organisations;
	they must be able to show that the problems they face are historic and that they have a clear plan to manage their resources in the future;
	they must show that they are delivering high levels of annual productivity savings; and
	they must deliver clinically viable, high quality services, including delivering low waiting times and other performance measures.
	On the basis of meeting these requirements, these trusts will have access to the national support being made available. Some of this funding will be available from 2012-13 and the trusts who will receive this during this period will be determined following the conclusions of the ongoing review on a case by case basis for each organisation.

Hospitals: Private Finance Initiative

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much additional financial support for hospitals with high PFI charges has been allocated to hospitals in (a) London and (b) other areas.

Simon Burns: A review has been undertaken to analyse the extent to which private finance initiative (PFI) schemes are, in themselves, a determinant to why national health service providers may not be clinically or financially viable and where additional support may be needed to address this. This work has determined, so far, that the following organisations will need some additional support to enable them to be sustainable providers of high quality health care services:
	London
	Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
	South London Healthcare NHS Trust
	Other areas
	Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
	Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
	North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust
	Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
	St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust
	For these the amounts that may be allocated to PFI schemes in London and other areas will be determined following the conclusions of the ongoing review on a case by case basis for each organisation.

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust: Overseas Visitors

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what costs have been invoiced to foreign patients not entitled to free NHS care by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what proportion of costs invoiced to foreign patients not entitled to free NHS care by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust have been written off in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: Trusts' accounts report total audited income from overseas patients under non-reciprocal arrangements(1), and bad debt and claims abandoned for overseas patients. As well as foreign nationals who are not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the data include income from, and written off debt for, UK nationals who are not ordinarily resident here.
	The value of bad debt and claims abandoned for overseas patients for Hull and East Yorkshire National Health Service Trust (HEY) for 2006-07 to 2010-11 is shown in the following table.
	(1) This means the amount invoiced for national health service hospital treatment to overseas patients not entitled to free NHS care.
	
		
			 Financial year Bad debts and claims abandoned in respect of overseas patients (£) 
			 2010-11 23,601 
			 2009-10 4,706 
			 2008-09 7430 
			 2007-08 5,431 
			 2006-07 0 
			 Source: NHS Trust Audited Summarisation Schedules 
		
	
	HEY's accounts report no income related to overseas patients in the years in question. However, HEY has informed the Department that the income has been recorded in its accounts under the private patient income heading. My right hon. Friend may wish to approach HEY for further information.

Incontinence

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS operations to insert a transobturata tape procedure or tensions-free vaginal tape procedure polypropylene mesh bladder sling to treat stress urinary incontinence in women there have been in each of the last eight years; and how many (a) adverse event reports there have been associated with such slings and (b) operations to remove such slings in the same period.

Simon Burns: The information is shown in the following tables:
	
		
			 Procedure 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Insertion of Transobturator Tape 2,580 5,045 5,750 5,569 5,426 
			 Removal of Transobturator Tape 68 79 96 128 95 
			 Insertion of Tension-Free Vaginal Tape 6,137 8,817 8,503 8,397 8,087 
			 Removal of Tension-Free Vaginal Tape 287 417 506 475 508 
			 Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre. Activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
		
	
	HES is unable to provide data for the years previous to 2006-07.
	The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has received 107 incident reports since 2005 involving vaginal mesh tapes used for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) as follows:
	
		
			  Adverse Incident Reports 
			 2005 8 
			 2006 25 
			 2007 3 
			 2008 18 
			 2009 19 
			 2010 15 
			 2011 19 
		
	
	In addition the MHRA has also had six reports in 2010, and 19 in 2011, where the device is unknown but we believe they are likely to relate to vaginal tapes for SUI.

Information Centre for Health and Social Care

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department plans to change the (a) function and (b) operation of the NHS Information Centre.

Simon Burns: The Department’s consultation document “Liberating the NHS: An Information Revolution” set a clear vision for the Health and Social Care Information Centre to become a focal point for information collected from national health service and social care organisations in England. A copy has already been placed in the Library. The Information Centre will help to join up information and make health and adult social care information more accessible for patients, service users and professionals. Provisions in part 9 of the Health and Social Care Bill are designed to support and clarify the Information Centre’s role and functions.
	The intention is to streamline and simplify national health and adult social care information collections within a single organisation—the Information Centre. The centre’s remit will include social care, thus creating a clearer picture of care delivered and the outcomes achieved.

Innovation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effect of value-based pricing on innovation.

Simon Burns: Our plans for a new value-based pricing system for new medicines will be designed to encourage and support the development of innovative medicines that deliver significantly improved outcomes for patients and for society as a whole at a price that represents value for the national health service and for taxpayers.
	The Department's impact assessment provides more detail on the possible impact of value-based pricing on innovation and is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_122823.pdf

IVF

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to encourage primary care trusts to adhere to the 2004 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guideline on provision of three full cycles of IVF to eligible couples in the last 12 months.

Anne Milton: Primary care trusts are fully aware of their statutory commissioning responsibilities and the need to base commissioning decisions on clinical evidence and discussions with local general practitioner commissioners, secondary care clinicians and providers. The national health service deputy chief executive, David Flory, wrote to primary care trust commissioners last year to highlight to those involved in commissioning fertility services the importance of having regard to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence fertility guidelines, including the recommendation that up to three cycles of in vitro fertilisation are offered to eligible couples where the woman is aged between 23 and 39.
	Additionally, we support Infertility Network UK, a leading patient support organisation, to develop and promote standardised access criteria and to work in partnership with commissioners to encourage good practice in the provision of fertility services.

IVF

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the commissioning arrangements for IVF.

Anne Milton: The Government are supporting Infertility Network UK (INUK), the leading infertility support group, to undertake a primary care trusts liaison project. The purpose of this three year project is to gauge the extent to which commissioners are following the recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Fertility Guideline and sharing good practice in their treatment of people with fertility problems. A final report from the project is due later this year.

Learning Disability: Advocacy

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of 
	(1)  best practice by local authorities for the provision of independent advocacy services for people with learning disabilities;
	(2)  independent advocacy services funded by local authorities in ensuring equal access to services by people with learning disabilities.

Paul Burstow: The Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government make resources available to local authorities (LAs) for them to decide how they best support people with learning disabilities. Most LAs commission independent advocacy for people with learning disabilities as part of the support and services they offer them.
	The Department has however funded the development of a ‘quality mark’ scheme, whereby an advocacy umbrella organisation, “Action for Advocacy”, will carry out an assessment of the quality of advocacy offered by advocacy organisations and will award a quality mark where an organisation meets certain standards. This is an innovative scheme, developed by the sector for the sector, with the aim of recognising quality where it exists, and assisting all advocacy organisations to identify quality as an important part of their work. The quality mark is a form of assessment and the organisations which have achieved this are listed on the website of “Action for Advocacy”.
	LAs are required under equality legislation to ensure that a variety of measures are available to enable equal access to services. Advocacy plays an important part in this.

Malaria

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of malaria there were in each region in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Anne Milton: The Health Protection Agency's (HPA) Malaria Reference Laboratory conducts enhanced surveillance of malaria in the United Kingdom. Data are collected by county and have been aggregated to approximate regions for cases in 2010 as shown in the following table. Data will not be available for 2011 until March 2012.
	
		
			  2010 malaria cases (all species) 
			 East of England 183 
			 London 828 
			 South East 247 
		
	
	
		
			 South West 44 
			 North West 102 
			 West Midlands 110 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 94 
			 East Midlands 53 
			 North East 8 
			   
			 Wales 30 
			 Scotland 54 
			 Northern Ireland 6 
			 Other 2 
			 Total 1,761 
		
	
	Further information about malaria in the UK is published on the HPA website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/Malaria/EpidemiologicalData/

Maternity Services: Expenditure

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on maternity services in each (a) region and (b) NHS trust in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011. [Official Report, 1 March 2012, Vol. 541, c. 1MC.]

Anne Milton: This information is not collected in the format requested. The Department collects accounting data based on commissioning, of secondary health care by financial year. Information regarding expenditure on the purchase of secondary health care relating to maternity services by strategic health authority (SHA) region and primary care trust in 2009-10 and 2010-11 is set out in the following tables.
	
		
			 Table 1: Expenditure on the purchase of secondary health care relating to maternity services by SHA region 
			 £000 
			 Region 2009-10 2010-11 
			 North East SHA 101,419 114,257 
			 North West SHA 329,607 346,241 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA 268,088 262,697 
			 East Midlands SHA 178,459 206,929 
			 West Midlands SHA 258,973 277,764 
			 East of England SHA 259,029 265,409 
			 London SHA 462,634 479,526 
			 South East Coast SHA 164,272 167,141 
			 South Central SHA 174,318 179,337 
			 South West SHA 210,592 233,049 
			 Source: 2009-10 and 2010-11 PCT Audited Summarisation Schedules 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Expenditure on the purchase of secondary health care relating to maternity services by primary care trust (PCT) 
			 £000 
			 Organisation 2009-10 purchase of secondary health care: Maternity 2010-11 purchase of secondary health care: Maternity 
			 Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT. 14,306 14,807 
			 Barking and Dagenham PCT 87,335 2,733 
			 Barnet PCT 217,662 22,577 
			 Barnsley PCT 10,747 13,449 
			 Bassetlaw PCT 5,414 5,488 
			 Bath and North East Somerset PCT 6,651 7,075 
			 Bedfordshire PCT 20,207 19,997 
		
	
	
		
			 Berkshire East PCT 19,557 20,517 
			 Berkshire West PCT 23,810 24,777 
			 Bexley NHS Care Trust PCT 9,864 12,720 
			 Birmingham East and North PCT 21,132 22,410 
			 Blackburn with Darwen PCT(1) 7,672 0 
			 Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus PCT(1) 0 8,759 
			 Blackpool PCT 5,297 4,973 
			 Bolton PCT 15,303 15,885 
			 Bournemouth and Poole PCT 15,996 16,306 
			 Bradford and Airedale PCT 28,654 30,987 
			 Brent Teaching PCT 17,563 17,399 
			 Brighton and Hove City PCT 8,974 8,871 
			 Bristol PCT 27,293 26,778 
			 Bromley PCT 10,663 13,734 
			 Buckinghamshire PCT 22,598 24,384 
			 Bury PCT 9,836 9,566 
			 Calderdale PCT 10,155 10,171 
			 Cambridgeshire PCT 21,386 24,109 
			 Camden PCT 15,481 12,756 
			 Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT 18,790 23,164 
			 Central Lancashire PCT 24,766 20,753 
			 City and Hackney Teaching PCT 17,992 19,027 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT 16,221 14,922 
			 County Durham PCT 19,690 20,291 
			 Coventry Teaching PCT 17,068 19,199 
			 Croydon PCT 21,650 22,736 
			 Cumbria PCT 14,812 14,104 
			 Darlington PCT 3,691 3,783 
			 Derby City PCT 16,336 14,628 
			 Derbyshire County PCT 20,244 22,968 
			 Devon PCT 29,703 41,385 
			 Doncaster PCT 13,111 13,755 
			 Dorset PCT 11,898 12,356 
			 Dudley PCT 12,872 16,925 
			 Ealing PCT 13,831 15,140 
			 East and North Hertfordshire PCT(2) 26,386 0 
			 East Lancashire Teaching PCT 17,725 18,187 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire PCT 10,945 10,156 
			 East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT 11,632 12,659 
			 Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT 26,575 25,749 
			 Enfield PCT 18,103 18,332 
			 Gateshead PCT 4,745 7,081 
			 Gloucestershire PCT 20,507 20,915 
			 Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT 5,521 7,466 
			 Greenwich Teaching PCT 22,776 19,636 
			 Halton and St Helens PCT 15,243 15,526 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT 12,368 11,114 
			 Hampshire PCT 46,550 49,187 
			 Haringey Teaching PCT 11,728 15,332 
			 Harrow PCT 7,010 8,589 
			 Hartlepool PCT 4,135 3,891 
			 Hastings and Rother PCT 6,130 8,371 
			 Havering PCT 8,688 10,184 
		
	
	
		
			 Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT 21,827 21,345 
			 Herefordshire PCT 7,919 6,587 
			 Hertfordshire PCT(2) 0 58,224 
			 Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT 12,862 11,852 
			 Hillingdon PCT 10,809 15,001 
			 Hounslow PCT 13,476 13,540 
			 Hull PCT 17,481 13,908 
			 Isle of Wight NHS PCT 6,244 3,605 
			 Islington PCT 14,846 10,543 
			 Kensington and Chelsea PCT 4,817 4,339 
			 Kingston PCT 8,916 10,961 
			 Kirklees PCT 25,131 23,994 
			 Knowsley PCT 6,806 7,876 
			 Lambeth PCT 21,666 22,603 
			 Leeds PCT 43,244 35,893 
			 Leicester City PCT 19,060 21,377 
			 Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT 26,966 36,883 
			 Lewisham PCT 24,006 24,006 
			 Lincolnshire Teaching PCT 28,515 37,903 
			 Liverpool PCT 24,436 28,166 
			 Luton Teaching PCT 10,629 14,280 
			 Manchester PCT 24,658 23,861 
			 Medway PCT 12,089 11,551 
			 Mid Essex PCT 12,806 14,897 
			 Middlesbrough PCT 6,485 8,887 
			 Milton Keynes PCT 14,029 13,578 
			 Newcastle PCT 7,511 7,910 
			 Newham PCT 27,358 25,936 
			 Norfolk PCT 26,316 27,910 
			 North East Essex PCT 14,683 14,831 
			 North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus PCT 5,103 5,189 
			 North Lancashire Teaching PCT 6,583 6,526 
			 North Lincolnshire PCT 8,552 8,633 
			 North Somerset PCT 9,114 9,061 
			 North Staffordshire PCT 4,969 5,887 
			 North Tyneside PCT 20,636 22,901 
			 North Yorkshire and York PCT 27,441 27,763 
			 Northamptonshire Teaching PCT 26,780 31,165 
			 Northumberland Care PCT 8,912 9,369 
			 Nottingham City PCT 13,663 14,035 
			 Nottinghamshire County Teaching PCT 21,781 22,482 
			 Oldham PCT 12,462 12,084 
			 Oxfordshire PCT 20,383 22,224 
			 Peterborough PCT 8,054 11,609 
			 Plymouth Teaching PCT 9,051 12,115 
			 Portsmouth City Teaching PCT 7,990 7,707 
			 Redbridge PCT 9,649 10,413 
			 Redcar and Cleveland PCT 4,902 6,658 
			 Richmond and Twickenham PCT 9,413 11,139 
			 Rotherham PCT 13,596 13,690 
			 Salford PCT 11,502 14,815 
			 Sandwell PCT 16,668 16,422 
			 Sefton PCT 9,238 10,216 
			 Sheffield PCT 36,928 36,955 
			 Shropshire County PCT 8,843 9,338 
		
	
	
		
			 Solihull NHS Care Trust PCT 8,744 9,707 
			 Somerset PCT 19,692 23,798 
			 South Birmingham PCT 19,424 20,087 
			 South East Essex PCT 17,935 14,854 
			 South Gloucestershire PCT 11,473 10,844 
			 South Staffordshire PCT 30,398 31,928 
			 South Tyneside PCT 4,064 4,425 
			 South West Essex PCT 24,344 15,211 
			 Southampton City PCT 13,157 13,358 
			 Southwark PCT 23,369 23,017 
			 Stockport PCT 12,029 14,446 
			 Stockton-on-Tees Teaching PCT 9,210 9,195 
			 Stoke on Trent PCT 11,692 12,519 
			 Suffolk PCT 29,035 30,500 
			 Sunderland Teaching PCT 7,138 9,866 
			 Surrey PCT 49,248 49,444 
			 Sutton and Merton PCT 16,532 21,986 
			 Swindon PCT 8,747 9,171 
			 Tameside and Glossop PCT 12,501 13,552 
			 Telford and Wrekin PCT 7,437 7,895 
			 Torbay Care PCT 5,634 7,330 
			 Tower Hamlets PCT 19,691 18,457 
			 Trafford PCT 16,297 17,358 
			 Wakefield District PCT 17,000 18,154 
			 Walsall Teaching PCT 15,850 15,429 
			 Waltham Forest PCT 15,598 16,952 
			 Wandsworth PCT 17,835 22,341 
			 Warrington PCT 7,435 7,466 
			 Warwickshire PCT 15,581 19,312 
			 West Essex PCT 10,744 11,521 
			 West Hertfordshire PCT(2) 30,983 0 
			 West Kent PCT 25,468 27,287 
			 West Sussex PCT 24,156 23,209 
			 Western Cheshire PCT 12,358 16,268 
			 Westminster PCT 6,939 6,283 
			 Wiltshire PCT 18,612 20,993 
			 Wirral PCT 16,690 16,031 
			 Wolverhampton City PCT 13,807 16,598 
			 Worcestershire PCT 24,742 26,176 
			 (1) In April 2010 Blackburn with Darwen PCT became Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus PCT. (2) In April 2010 East and North Hertfordshire PCT and West Hertfordshire merged to become Hertfordshire PCT. Source: 2009-10 and 2010-11 PCT Audited Summarisation Schedules

Mental Illness: Drugs

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been prescribed antipsychotic drugs (a) in total and (b) while receiving treatment in hospital, by primary care trust area, in the latest period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: Information on the number of people prescribed antipsychotic drugs while in hospital is not collected centrally. Although information is not collected on the number of people prescribed a particular medicine in primary care, data are available for the number of prescription items prescribed and subsequently dispensed. The following table provides information for antipsychotic drugs as defined by the British National Formulary sections 4.2.1 “Antipsychotic Drugs” and 4.2.2 “Antipsychotic depot injections”, for the latest available 12-month period.
	
		
			 Prescription items for antipsychotic drugs prescribed in England and dispensed in the community in the UK, December 2010 to November 2011 
			 Primary care trust (PCT) Number of prescription items 
			 Ashton, Leigh and Wigan 58,624 
			 Barking and Dagenham 24,564 
			 Barnet 39,843 
			 Barnsley 37,136 
			 Bassetlaw 11,074 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 24,447 
			 Bedfordshire 48,949 
			 Berkshire East 54,222 
			 Berkshire West 55,297 
			 Bexley Care Trust 18,692 
			 Birmingham East and North 54,215 
			 Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus 22,670 
			 Blackpool 37,611 
			 Bolton 56,344 
			 Bournemouth and Poole Teaching 46,562 
			 Bradford and Airedale Teaching 86,381 
			 Brent Teaching 41,553 
			 Brighton and Hove City 64,588 
			 Bristol 67,604 
			 Bromley 24,368 
			 Buckinghamshire 46,916 
			 Bury 39,113 
			 Calderdale 28,436 
			 Cambridgeshire 74,601 
			 Camden 27,803 
			 Central and Eastern Cheshire 66,251 
			 Central Lancashire 63,411 
			 City and Hackney Teaching 31,731 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly. 66,787 
			 County Durham 89,954 
			 Coventry Teaching 70,973 
			 Croydon 38,417 
			 Cumbria Teaching 91,386 
			 Darlington 25,786 
			 Derby City 37,788 
			 Derbyshire County 85,612 
			 Devon 105,020 
			 Doncaster 32,365 
			 Dorset 40,713 
			 Dudley 46,976 
			 Ealing 43,488 
			 East Lancashire Teaching 55,762 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 32,244 
			 East Sussex Downs and Weald 52,932 
			 Eastern and Coastal Kent 92,755 
			 Enfield 38,393 
			 Gateshead 36,931 
			 Gloucestershire 82,619 
			 Great Yarmouth and Waveney 46,614 
			 Greenwich Teaching 34,581 
			 Halton and St Helens. 48,011 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 24,426 
			 Hampshire 168,286 
			 Haringey Teaching 46,214 
			 Harrow 25,317 
			 Hartlepool 15,712 
			 Hastings and Rother 37,826 
			 Havering 26,406 
			 Heart of Birmingham 44,830 
			 Herefordshire 23,045 
		
	
	
		
			 Hertfordshire 118,972 
			 Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale 44,778 
			 Hillingdon 32,381 
			 Hounslow 33,186 
			 Hull Teaching 46,455 
			 Isle of Wight NHS 25,221 
			 Islington 28,235 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 20,208 
			 Kingston 19,234 
			 Kirklees 65,268 
			 Knowsley 35,171 
			 Lambeth 48,617 
			 Leeds 125,620 
			 Leicester City 56,691 
			 Leicestershire County and Rutland 70,560 
			 Lewisham 42,169 
			 Lincolnshire 113,016 
			 Liverpool 106,809 
			 Luton 26,311 
			 Manchester 134,786 
			 Medway 32,575 
			 Mid Essex 48,728 
			 Middlesbrough 29,861 
			 Milton Keynes 23,913 
			 Newcastle 69,085 
			 Newham 46,980 
			 Norfolk 146,908 
			 North East Essex 59,540 
			 North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus 29,502 
			 North Lancashire Teaching 57,391 
			 North Lincolnshire 22,413 
			 North Somerset 30,822 
			 North Staffordshire 28,034 
			 North Tyneside 40,431 
			 North Yorkshire and York 77,734 
			 Northamptonshire Teaching 112,063 
			 Northumberland Care Trust 48,758 
			 Nottingham City 34,815 
			 Nottinghamshire County Teaching 59,032 
			 Oldham 39,669 
			 Oxfordshire 75,584 
			 Peterborough 23,406 
			 Plymouth Teaching 47,395 
			 Portsmouth City Teaching 36,803 
			 Redbridge 28,866 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 22,606 
			 Richmond and Twickenham 26,614 
			 Rotherham 28,174 
			 Salford 61,278 
			 Sandwell 43,667 
			 Sefton 63,443 
			 Sheffield 79,327 
			 Shropshire County 35,641 
			 Solihull 24,710 
			 Somerset 53,776 
			 South Birmingham 57,292 
			 South East Essex 41,695 
			 South Gloucestershire 21,061 
			 South Staffordshire 69,913 
			 South Tyneside 26,299 
			 South West Essex 44,645 
			 Southampton City 47,244 
			 Southwark 32,318 
		
	
	
		
			 Stockport 53,296 
			 Stockton-on-Tees Teaching 20,078 
			 Stoke on Trent 40,288 
			 Suffolk 73,199 
			 Sunderland Teaching 57,839 
			 Surrey 115,890 
			 Sutton and Merton 45,022 
			 Swindon 28,751 
			 Tameside and Glossop 43,475 
			 Telford and Wrekin 22,327 
			 Torbay Care Trust 24,178 
			 Tower Hamlets 51,635 
			 Trafford 40,091 
			 Wakefield District 53,000 
			 Walsall Teaching 43,110 
			 Waltham Forest 34,085 
			 Wandsworth Teaching 44,424 
			 Warrington 27,516 
			 Warwickshire 58,198 
			 West Essex 32,307 
			 West Kent 86,455 
			 West Sussex 109,184 
			 Western Cheshire 35,585 
			 Westminster 30,108 
			 Wiltshire 50,400 
			 Wirral 57,373 
			 Wolverhampton City 45,519 
			 Worcestershire 76,072 
			 Unidentified 3,804 
			 England total(1) 7,588,083 
			 (1) Does not include 120,792 hospital prescription items dispensed in the community, which cannot be allocated to individual PCTs. Source: Prescribing Analysis and CosT tool (PACT) system.

Midwives

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of midwifery graduates started working as midwives in the NHS within six months of graduation in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Anne Milton: The data are not available centrally.
	The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about higher education. The latest data available from the 2009-10 HESA Destinations of Leavers Survey show 81.7% of midwifery graduates in the United Kingdom went on to work as midwives. The 2010-11 data will be published in July 2012. HESA data are UK wide and more time is required to extract specific data for England.

Midwives: Manpower

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what date he estimates midwife numbers will have risen to meet his commitment to recruit 3,000 new midwives.

Anne Milton: There was no commitment to increase midwife numbers in the coalition agreement.
	We are committed to giving mothers the support and care they need throughout their pregnancy, birth and after birth. Safety and high quality care for mothers are at the heart of maternity services.
	We have increased the number of midwives in training to almost 2,500 but need further analysis to find out how many midwives are heeded on a national level to meet the current and future demand.
	We have asked the Centre for Workforce Intelligence to analyse the future work force needed across the whole of the maternity team, not just midwives.

Midwives: Training

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many places for student midwives were commissioned in each region for the 2011-12 academic year.

Anne Milton: The Department does not collect the number of student midwife training commissions by academic year. However, the number of midwife training commissions in each region for the financial year 2011-12, based on strategic health authority (SHA) plans, are shown in the following table. These are the planned figures only and final outturn figures will not be available until May 2012.
	
		
			 Midwifery training commissions by SHA in 2011-12 
			  Midwifery commissions 
			 NHS North East 90 
			 NHS North West 223 
			 NHS Yorkshire and the Humber 259 
			 NHS East Midlands 172 
			 NHS West Midlands 293 
			 NHS East of England 274 
			 NHS London 576 
			 NHS South East Coast 222 
			 NHS South Central 209 
			 NHS South West 154 
			 England Total 2,472 
			 Note: The figures include both degree and 18 month diploma courses. Source: Multi professional education and training quarterly monitoring returns.

Neurology

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the report by the National Audit Office on services for people with neurological conditions, what assessment he has made of the factors underlying the rise in emergency admissions for people with neurological conditions between 2004-05 and 2009-10; and what steps he plans to take to address this issue.

Paul Burstow: We have made no assessment of the factors underlying the rise in emergency admissions, as reported in the National Audit Office report on services for those living with neurological conditions..
	We are considering the findings of the National Audit Office report on services for people with neurological conditions, and will be responding in due course.

Neurology

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the National Audit Office report on neurological services, if he will ensure that neurological conditions have similar national strategy and clinical leadership arrangements conditions to conditions such as cancer and coronary heart disease.

Paul Burstow: We are considering the findings of the National Audit Office report on services for people with neurological conditions, and will be responding in due course. Health is a devolved matter, decisions concerning the organisation of neurological services are a matter for Ministers in the Northern Ireland executive.

NHS Shared Business Services

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 774W, on the NHS, how many employees of NHS Shared Business Services are based in (a) the UK and (b) abroad; and what the corresponding figures are for any companies contracted to provide call centre services for NHS Shared Business Services.

Simon Burns: NHS Shared Business Services employs a total of 1,427 people, of which 671 are based in India and 756 are based in the United Kingdom.
	NHS Shared Business Services has no companies contracted to provide call centre services.

NHS: Ancillary Staff

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish the results of the non-medical workforce census taken on 30 September 2011; and on what dates previous censuses were published in each of the last three years.

Simon Burns: The annual non-medical workforce census taken on 30 September 2011 will be published by the NHS Information Centre on 21 March 2012. The last three annual workforce censuses were published on 22 March 2011, 25 March 2010 and 25 March 2009.

NHS: Crimes of Violence

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) violent incidents against NHS staff, (b) physical assaults against NHS staff and (c) criminal sanctions against individuals who had assaulted NHS staff there were in each (i) NHS hospital trust, (ii) strategic health authority area and (iii) England in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011.

Simon Burns: Information on violent incidents against national health service staff is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The following table shows the number of reported physical assaults against NHS staff in each strategic health authority (SHA) area and the total in England in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
	
		
			 SHA area 2009-10 2010-11 
			 North East SHA 5,555 5,255 
			 North West SHA 6,991 7,965 
		
	
	
		
			 Yorkshire and the Humber SHA 6,849 6,257 
			 East Midlands 5,074 4,449 
			 West Midlands SHA 7,210 8,077 
			 East of England SHA 5,057 5,124 
			 London SHA 5,986 6,875 
			 South East Coast SHA 3,818 3,973 
			 South Central SHA 4,432 3,962 
			 South West SHA 5,746 5,893 
			 England total 56,718 57,830 
		
	
	The following table shows the number of criminal sanctions following assaults against NHS staff in each SHA area and the total in England in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
	
		
			 SHA area 2009-10 2010-11 
			 North East SHA 108 104 
			 North West SHA 154 318 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber SHA 97 83 
			 East Midlands 181 132 
			 West Midlands SHA 103 93 
			 East of England SHA 66 58 
			 London SHA 234 439 
			 South East Coast SHA 65 78 
			 South Central SHA 42 34 
			 South West SHA 78 58 
			 England total 1,128 1,397 
		
	
	Criminal sanctions include:
	Cautions and Conditional Cautions;
	Community Rehabilitation or Punishment Orders;
	Conditional Discharges;
	Fines;
	Fixed Penalty Notices; and
	Imprisonment (including suspended sentences).
	Information on the number of reported physical assaults against NHS staff and criminal sanctions following assaults, broken down by health body, for the years 2009-10 and 2010-11 is in the tables showing the number of reported physical assaults on NHS staff in 2009-10, broken down by NHS trust/PCT and ‘Tables showing the number of reported physical assaults on NHS staff in 2010-11, broken down by NHS Trust/PCT’ which have already been placed in the Library.

NHS: Negligence

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been paid out in respect of (a) all settled claims and (b) settled claims arising from obstetric care under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts in the last five year period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The data requested are set out in the following tables.
	
		
			 Table 1: All payments for clinical negligence scheme for trusts (CNST) claims closed 2006-07 to 2010-11 excluding claims settled as periodical payments 
			 Year of closure N umber  of claims closed N umber  of claims closed with damages Damages paid (£) Defence costs paid (£) Claimant costs paid (£) Total  p aid (£) 
			 2006-07 5,515 2,836 176,434,297 31,644,275 59,210,336 267,288,908 
		
	
	
		
			 2007-08 5,553 3,198 222,576£176 36,373,751 76,661,294 335,611,222 
			 2008-09 4,825 2,855 216,805,560 34,677,502 84,475,627 335,958,690 
			 2009-10 5,563 3,507 197,956,452 34,675,790 97,094,066 329,726,307 
			 2010-11 7,318 4,983 393,868,040 57,721,362 171,917,026 623,506,427 
			 Total 28,774 17,379 1,207,640,525 195,092,681 489,358,349 1,892,091,554 
			 Source: NHS Litigation Authority 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: All payments for CNST claims settled 2006-07 to 2010-11 as periodical payments as at 31 January 2012 
			 Year of settlement N umber  of claims settled Damages paid (£) Defence costs paid (£) Claimant costs paid (£) Total paid (£) 
			 2006-07 43 60,765,693 4,162,714 8,658,356 73,586,763 
			 2007-08 43 70,186,748 3,885,583 9,956,947 84,029,277 
			 2008-09 89 166,981,269 11,468,177 25,609,625 204,059,072 
			 2009-10 87 153,622,637 8,905,556 24,269,211 186,797,404 
			 2010-11 108 189,892,250 10,478,649 27,372,392 227,743,290 
			 Total 370 641,448,597 38,900,679 95,866,531 776,215,807 
			 Source: NHS Litigation Authority 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: All payments for obstetrics CNST claims closed 2006-07 to 2010-11 excluding claims settled as periodical payments 
			 Year of closure N umber  of claims closed N umber  of claims closed with damages Damages paid (£) Defence costs paid (£) Claimant costs paid (£) Total paid (£) 
			 2006-07 754 318 58,932,217 6,653,756 9,983,824 75,569,797 
			 2007-08 682 366 82,255,548 7,326,106 13,760,200 103,341,855 
			 2008-09 584 319 70,199,272 6,596,024 14,883,865 91,679,162 
			 2009-10 580 349 37,297,382 5,530,431 13,177,622 56,005,435 
			 2010-11 843 542 87,921,826 9,598,013 25,220,724 122,740,563 
			 Total 3,443 1,894 336,606,247 35,704,329 77,026,235 449,336,811 
			 Source: NHS Litigation Authority 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: All payments for obstetrics CNST claims settled 2006-07 to 2010-11 as periodical payments as at 31 January 2012 
			 Year of settlement N umber  of claims settled Damages paid (£) Defence costs paid (£) Claimant costs paid (£) Total paid (£) 
			 2006-07 27 38,902,875 2,806,829 5,610,698 47,320,402 
			 2007-08 25 46,488,992 2,299,048 5,927,147 54,715,187 
			 2008-09 48 104,855,798 6,724,813 14,474,977 126,055,587 
			 2009-10 48 100,863,762 5,280,976 12,942,948 119,087,686 
			 2010-11 56 124,811,827 5,896,480 14,944,310 145,652,617 
			 Total 204 415,923,254 23,008,146 53,900,079 492,831,479 
			 Source: NHS Litigation Authority

NHS: Private Sector

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to encourage greater use of private sector incentives in NHS procurement; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department is working on a new procurement strategy to be launched in April, this is in response to the Committee of Public Accounts report on the Procurement of Consumables in the NHS Acute and Foundation Trusts.
	The strategy will help trusts deliver better practice in procurement and will include guidance for better use of private sector partners. However it is up to individual trusts to decide when and how to use private sector organisations and incentives.

NHS: Reorganisation

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure health service restructuring does not occur where the public consultation process determines that the majority of local people are opposed.

Simon Burns: The Government are clear that any changes to local health services should be locally-led, improve quality and with decisions made in the best interest of patients. Under section 242 of the National Health Service (NHS) Act 2006, NHS organisations must make arrangements that secure the involvement of people who use services in the development and consideration of proposals for changes in the way those services are provided. This was strengthened further in 2010 by the Secretary of State's four reconfiguration tests, which require NHS organisations to demonstrate evidence of: robust public and patient engagement; support from local clinical commissioners; support for patient choice; and clarity on the clinical evidence base. Where local communities have concerns over proposals, we would expect the NHS to listen and respond to these concerns as part of any engagement activity.
	The outcome of a service reconfiguration consultation is also subject to scrutiny by local authority scrutiny committees. Where a committee is not satisfied with the content of the consultation, or that the proposal is in the interests of the health service in its area, it has powers to refer these issues to the Secretary of State. In addition, the Government propose in the Health and Social Care Bill to extend the powers of local authorities to enable effective scrutiny of any provider of any NHS-funded services.

Nurses: Schools

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the ratio of fully-qualified school nurses to the number of schools was in England in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Anne Milton: The ratio of school nurses to schools is not collected by the Department.
	In 2010 there were 1,104 full-time equivalent qualified school nurses. Figures for 2011 will be available from April 2012.

Obesity

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what public health campaigns targeted at the prevention and management of obesity his Department ran in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011; what the (i) start and (ii) end date was of each such campaign; and how much his Department (A) allocated and (B) spent on each campaign.

Anne Milton: The Change4Life campaign has been the only public health campaign targeting at the prevention and management of obesity from its launch in January 2009 to the present. The budget for the campaign has been as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2010-11 9.8 
			 2011-12 11.17

Obesity

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the rate of obesity amongst adults was in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011 in each primary care trust area.

Anne Milton: Information is not available in the format requested.
	Information on the percentage of obese adults aged 16 and over in England is available in the 'Health Survey for England—2010 trend tables', Adult trend tables, Table 4. Information is provided for the years 1993 to 2010. This information is available from the following:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/hse10trends
	Information on the prevalence of obesity in adults by primary care trust (PCT) area is not available. However, information is available by strategic health authority (SHA) for 2010. The percentage of adults aged 16 and over recorded as obese by SHA area for 2010 is available in Table 10.3 on page 15 of chapter 10—Adult anthropometric measures, overweight and obesity of the 'Health Survey for England—2010: Respiratory health'. The information is available from the following:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/hse10report
	These publications have been placed in the Library.

Organs: Donors

Edward Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level of organ donation was in each year from 1997.

Anne Milton: The information is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 Solid organ donors in the United Kingdom, between 1 April 1996 and 31 December 2011 
			 Financial year of donation Deceased donor Living donor Total 
			 1996-97 855 224 1,079 
			 1997-98 796 224 1,020 
			 1998-99 738 285 1,023 
			 1999-2000 777 338 1,115 
			 2000-01 773 372 1,145 
			 2001-02 745 386 1,131 
			 2002-03 777 397 1,174 
			 2003-04 770 472 1,242 
			 2004-05 751 485 1,236 
			 2005-06 765 599 1,364 
			 2006-07 793 702 1,495 
			 2007-08 809 858 1,667 
			 2008-09 899 961 1,860 
			 2009-10 959 1,062 2,021 
			 2010-11 1,010 1,045 2,055 
			 Note: ‘The level of organ donation’ has been taken to mean the number of donors that have donated their organs in the given time frame. Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Organs: Donors

Edward Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to increase levels of organ donation.

Anne Milton: Since the publication of the report by the Organ Donation Taskforce in 2008, a great deal of work has taken place to strengthen the donation programme and increase the number of organs available for patients. There are now over 200 highly trained Specialist Nurses for Organ Donation based in hospitals across the country and NHS Blood and Transplant is continuing to train and recruit more staff into this vital role. Clinical Leads for Organ Donation have been appointed in every acute hospital working closely with hospital Organ Donation Committees to increase donation rates. This means that we are on track to meet the 50% improvement in deceased donor rates by 2013 anticipated by the taskforce, with latest available figures showing that deceased donor numbers have increased by 31.4%.
	A Transitional Steering Group (TSG), chaired by Chris Rudge, has been established to help maintain the momentum achieved pending the introduction of the NHS Commissioning Board. During the transitional period the TSG will be focusing on the six big wins—optimising deceased donation rates through undertaking brainstem death testing and considering donation after cardiac death in all appropriate circumstances, increasing consent rates, increasing donation from emergency medicine, timely referral of donors and better donor management.

Organs: Donors

Edward Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the (a) demand for and (b) take-up of organ donation.

Anne Milton: The information is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 Table: Number of organ donors and organ transplants in the United Kingdom, 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2011, and patients on the active transplant list as at 31 March 
			  Financial year 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Deceased donor organ transplants 2,552 2,645 2,695 
			 Living donor organ transplants 961 1,062 1,045 
			 Total organ transplants 3,513 3,707 3,740 
			 Active transplant waiting list 7,877 7,997 7,800 
			 Notes: 1. ‘Demand for organ donation’ has been taken to mean the number of people waiting for an organ transplant. Figures are provided for the active waiting list at the end of each financial year—‘Active’ means the patient is currently in a state to receive a transplant. 2. ‘Take up of organ donation’ has been taken to mean the number of organ transplants that have taken place. This differs from the number of donors as a donor can donate more than one organ. Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Organs: Donors

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Dartford constituency and (b) Kent were registered as organ donors in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: The Information requested is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 Number of registrations on the organ donor register (ODR) in Kent county and Dartford constituency, 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011, by year 
			 Year of registration (1) Kent (2) Dartford (2) 
			 2007 29,369 1,591 
			 2008 31,823 1,688 
			 2009 31,422 1,658 
			 2010 32,287 1,759 
			 2011 29,679 1,581 
			    
			 Current total(3) 542,722 27,346 
			 (1) This is based on registrants on the ODR as at 9 February 2012 and excludes people who registered in this time period and have subsequently died or been removed from the ODR. (2) Areas defined from the Office for National Statistics postcode datasets. (3) The current total number of registrations on the ODR as at 9 February 2012. Source: NHS Blood and Transplant.

Osteoporosis: Surgery

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure NHS patients have access to total joint replacements to treat debilitating osteoarthritic conditions within the 18 week target time.

Paul Burstow: The NHS Medical Directorate is working to support the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance in identifying the means to improve services for patients with common musculoskeletal conditions, including osteoarthritis. It is also in discussion with the British Orthopaedic Association about the development of a strategic partnership to address a number of issues relating to trauma and orthopaedic surgery.
	In 2012-13, the Department will pilot ways in which the national health service can use and offer alternative providers to deliver the NHS Constitution 18-week maximum waiting time right in the best interest of patients. The pilots will focus especially on orthopaedics and the lessons will be available for full roll-out from April 2013.

Out of Area Treatment: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2012, Official Report, columns 120-1W, on out-of-area treatment: Scotland, how many elective surgeries were carried out in the private sector; and how many were for specialist treatment not available in Scotland.

Simon Burns: The Department of Health and NHS Information Centre for health and social care in England do not collect information on independent sector activity in England that has been funded by NHS Scotland.

Palliative Care: Costs

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of end-of-life care in hospitals in England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Paul Burstow: This information is not collected centrally.
	The Department conducted special exercises to collect information on expenditure by primary care trusts on specialist palliative care in 2006-07 and 2010-11. This data includes some information on expenditure in hospitals. However, this does not provide a full picture of expenditure in hospitals and we do not know how many patients receive end of life care in hospitals or the cost of that care. This data is available on the Department's website:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_086277
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_130239
	The Government have made a commitment to develop a per-patient funding system for palliative care. We set up the independent palliative care funding review to help take this work forward.
	The review, which reported in July 2011, came up with a range of significant proposals which we now need to consider in detail. One of its key conclusions was that “There is a stunning lack of good data surrounding costs for palliative care in England.” It recommended that a number of pilots be set up to collect data and refine its proposals, due to the lack of good quality data currently available. So, from April 2012 we shall, be setting up pilots to collect a range of data to help test the review's recommendations. Our aim is have to have a new funding system in place by 2015, a year sooner than the review proposed.

Palliative Care: Standards

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to improve care for end-of-life patients.

Paul Burstow: The Government have confirmed their commitment to improving quality and choice in palliative and end of life care in the White Paper ‘Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS’. The Department's ‘End of Life Care Strategy’ provides a blueprint for improving these services for adults and we are pressing on with its implementation.
	We are making progress in implementing the strategy. This includes: providing support for staff training and development in end of life care; completing pilots of locality registers (now called Electronic Palliative Care Co-ordination Systems), which will allow all local services to co-ordinate care more effectively; introducing, a national survey of the bereaved, to help us understand the experience for patients and carers; and establishing a national coalition of organisations, Dying Matters, to raise public awareness of issues around death, dying and bereavement. The ‘End of Life Care Strategy Third Annual Report’, which sets out progress in implementing the strategy, was published in September 2011. A copy has already been placed in the Library and is available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_130239
	The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published a Quality Standard on end of life care for adults.
	In addition, we are undertaking work to develop a fairer funding system for palliative care, following on from the report of the independent Palliative Care Funding Review.

Pharmacy

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider making quick and convenient supply of prescription medications to local pharmacies a legal obligation on the manufacturer and supplier.

Simon Burns: Best practice guidance was jointly agreed by the Government and organisations representing various parts of the supply chain. This said that the aim of all parties should be that, under normal circumstances, pharmacies should receive medicines within 24 hours. The Government are cautious about increasing the regulatory burden on the supply chain.

Pharmacy

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the legal duties of pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers to ensure adequate domestic supply of medications to local pharmacists.

Simon Burns: Article 81 of European directive 2001/83, requires the maintenance of appropriate and continued supply of medicinal products by marketing authorisation holders and distributors so that the needs of patients are covered. Article 81 has been implemented into United Kingdom medicines legislation.
	The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Government body responsible for the safety and licensing of medicines in the UK, investigate all reports of suspected breaches of medicines legislation including matters relating to Article 81. The MHRA has reminded distributors of their duties in this area, and continues to undertake targeted inspections to ensure compliance with the regulations.
	The Department, the MHRA and pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders are working collaboratively to better understand and mitigate the impact of supply difficulties to ensure that patients receive the medicines they need. In February 2011 the group published joint guidance ‘Best Practice for Ensuring the Efficient Supply and Distribution of Medicines to Patients’ and a copy has already been placed in the Library.
	The guidance provides a sound basis for helping to ensure that patients get their medicines when they need them.

Physiotherapy: Finance

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria primary care trusts use to determine which types of physiotherapy to provide funding for.

Anne Milton: It is the responsibility of local national health service organisations to commission services to meet the needs of their community including the provision of physiotherapy services. Each physiotherapist will assess the patient and decide what type of physiotherapy to use based on the patient’s clinical need.

Pregnancy

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason the Public Health Outcomes Framework does not include an indicator for conception among women over the age of 18; and what assessment his Department has made on the potential effect of the limitation of the under 18 conceptions indicator on delivering improved public health outcomes for women over the age of 18; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: ‘Improving Outcomes and Supporting Transparency: a public health outcomes framework for England’, published on 23 January 2012, and a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, contains indicators which can make the maximum contribution to the overarching aims of increasing healthy life expectancy and reducing health inequalities. It includes an indicator on reducing under 18 conceptions as evidence shows that teenage pregnancy can lead to adverse outcomes for both teenage parents and their children. We consider that adults aged 18 and over should be able to make their own decisions about how many children they have and indicators that seek to limit this choice are not appropriate. Once higher quality data become available we will consider developing an indicator which measures access to the full range of contraception.

Primary Care Trusts: Finance

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether his Department has issued amended guidance to primary care trusts on procedures for the consideration of individual funding requests;
	(2)  on how many occasions Coventry Primary Care Trust has refused an individual funding request in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The Department published “Defining Guiding Principles for Processes supporting Local Decision Making about Medicines” in January 2009, “Supporting rational local decision-making about medicines (and treatments)—A handbook of good practice guidance” was published by the National Prescribing Centre (NPC) in February 2009, and Directions to primary care trusts (PCTs) and national health service trusts concerning decisions about drugs and other treatments were issued in March 2009. All remain extant.
	The NPC has subsequently produced resources and information to support those involved in local decision making. Further information is available on the NPC's website at:
	www.npc.nhs.uk/local_decision_making
	Information on PCT decisions on individual funding requests is not collected centrally.

Primary Care Trusts: Redundancy Pay

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the public purse was of staff redundancies in each primary care trust area since April 2010.

Simon Burns: The information is not collected in the format requested.
	The total resource cost of exit packages for primary care trust (PCT) staff leaving their organisation in 2010-11 was £168.7 million. A table breaking down this cost for each PCT has been placed in the Library. The total value of £168.7 million includes £60 million for compulsory redundancies and £108.7 million for other departures. The figure for other departures includes the cost of both early retirements (excluding those relating to ill-health) and voluntary redundancies. However, it is not possible to separately identify the value of either of these costs from the data collected.
	Figures for the 2011-12 financial year will be available in the summer, once the Department's Annual Report and Accounts are laid before Parliament.

Private Patients: Health Insurance

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward legislative proposals to compel private health care providers to have full indemnity cover for NHS patients.

Simon Burns: The NHS Standard Contract requires providers to obtain appropriate indemnity in relation to clinical negligence.
	The Government's aim is for equivalent safeguards to be in place for patients irrespective of who provides their NHS services. The Department will therefore be asking the NHS Litigation Authority for advice on options for modifying the existing clinical negligence scheme for trusts to enable all providers of NHS services to be members.

Ritalin

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the change was in the level of dispensed prescriptions of methylphenidate hydrochloride in England between 1997 and 2010.

Simon Burns: Prescription cost analysis data show that in 1997, 92,079 prescription items for methylphenidate hydrochloride were dispensed in the community, in England. This compares with 661,463 prescription items in 2010. This represents an increase of 569,384 items (618.4%).

Ritalin

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to monitor the use of methylphenidate hydrochloride in children under 16 years old.

Anne Milton: Information on numbers of prescriptions is taken from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system, supplied by the Prescription Services Division of the NHS Business Services Authority. The PCA system is not able to provide information on numbers of prescriptions by age of patients.
	In respect of the use of methylphenidate hydrochloride in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for children and young people, in December 2011, the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Nursing Officer, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer and the NHS Medical Director wrote to national health service clinicians and staff drawing their attention to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline on ADHD. This guideline highlights the need for any drug treatment for children and young people to always form part of a comprehensive treatment plan (including psychological, behaviour and educational advice and interventions). It is important that a range of clinicians—paediatricians and general practitioners as well as child and adolescent mental health service professionals—are well informed on the diagnosis and treatment of mental health problems in children and young people.
	Psychological therapies can in some cases form part of the holistic package of care that NICE recommended for children and young people with ADHD. High-quality, evidence-based treatment with a focus on individual patient outcomes is central to our programme to transform mental health services for children.
	The Department does not have data oh the number of children and young people assessed with ADHD, against which prescribing patterns could be compared.

Social Services: Registration

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that social workers who register or renew their membership of the General Social Care Council before July 2012 either (a) receive a rebate for the remaining amount of their membership when the General Social Care Council ceases to exist as the registration body or (b) have their membership automatically rolled over to the successor body.

Paul Burstow: Subject to parliamentary approval of the Health and Social Care Bill, all social workers on the General Social Care Council's register of social workers will automatically transfer to the Health Professions Council's register on 1 August 2012. They will then have up to four months to pay the registration fee to the Health Professions Council.

Social Services: Registration

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines he has provided to the Health Professions Council on the registration of social workers.

Paul Burstow: The Health and Social Care Bill sets out the proposed statutory framework for the regulation of social workers in England by the Health Professions Council.
	No formal guidelines have been given to the Health Professions Council by the Secretary of State for Health on the registration of social workers. The Health Professions Council is an independent statutory body and it will be for the council itself to determine the approach to regulating social workers in England according to the statutory requirements.
	The Health Professions Council has established a professional liaison group, which includes representatives of social workers, employers, education providers and service users to consider the standards of proficiency and the threshold level of qualifications for social workers in England.

Suicide

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish his Department's suicide prevention strategy.

Paul Burstow: We are currently considering the responses we received to the consultation on a new suicide prevention strategy and intend to publish later this year.

Surgery

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 1 February 2012, Official Report, column 683W, on surgery, what the (a) mean and (b) median waiting time was for open excision of the prostate procedures for patients aged (i) 15 to 39, (ii) 40 to 49, (iii) 50 to 54, (iv) 55 to 59, (v) 60 to 64, (vi) 65 to 69, (vii) 70 to 74 and (viii) over 75 years in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The information is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Mean and median time waited (days) (1)  for finished admission episodes (FAEs) (2)  with a main operative procedure (3)  of open excision of the prostate for the years 2008-09 to 2010-11 
			 Activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Age group Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited 
			 15-39 51 34 31 25 24 16 
			 40-49 34 27 35 27 35 31 
			 50-54 39 30 43 33 37 31 
			 55-59 39 30 41 31 38 31 
			 60-64 37 29 38 31 38 31 
			 65-69 38 31 41 31 40 32 
			 70-74 38 30 42 31 41 31 
			 75 and over 47 35 47 33 39 30 
			 (1 ) Time waited (days) Time waited (days) statistics from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are not the same as published Referral to Treatment (RTT) time waited statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients between decision to admit and admission to hospital within a given period. Published RTT waiting statistics measure the time waited between referral and start of treatment. The mean time waited is calculated by summing the time waited for all appropriate FAEs and dividing by the number of FAEs, where the record contains a valid time waited. The median is the middle value when all records with a valid time waited are placed in ascending order of time waited. (2 ) Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. (3 ) Main procedure The first recorded procedure or intervention in each episode, usually the most resource intensive procedure or intervention performed during the episode. It is appropriate to use main procedure when looking at admission details, (eg time waited), but a more complete count of episodes with a particular procedure is obtained by looking at the main and the secondary procedures. Note: OPCS 4.5 codes used: M34.1—Cystoprostatectomy M61—Open excision of Prostate Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Surgery

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) mean and (b) median waiting time was for (i) hip replacement, (ii) knee replacement, (iii) coronary artery bypass graft, (iv) cochlea implant and (v) cholecystectomy procedures for patients aged (A) 15 to 39, (B) 40 to 49, (C) 50 to 54, (D) 55 to 59, (E) 60 to 64, (F) 65 to 69, (G) 70 to 74 and (H) 75 years and over in each of the last three years for which data are available.

Simon Burns: The information is shown in the following tables:
	
		
			 Mean and median time waited (1)  (days) for finished admissions episodes (2)  (FAEs) where a main operative procedure (3)  as identified has been carried out, by specified age groups for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 
			 Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			 Hip replacement 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Age group Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited 
			 15-39 89 80 91 85 95 92 
			 40-49 88 79 91 85 91 84 
			 50-54 87 80 87 80 90 84 
			 55-59 87 78 86 79 88 83 
			 60-64 85 76 86 78 86 80 
			 65-69 84 76 86 77 85 80 
			 70-74 83 73 84 76 84 79 
			 75 and over 82 73 84 75 83 78 
		
	
	
		
			 Knee replacement 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Age group Mean  t ime  w aited Median  t ime  w aited Mean  t ime  w aited Median  t ime  w aited Mean  t ime  w aited Median  t ime  w aited 
			 15-39 91 83 96 91 98 93 
			 40-49 93 85 92 85 96 92 
			 50-54 91 81 93 82 96 88 
			 55-59 90 81 95 84 94 88 
			 60-64 90 81 93 82 93 87 
			 65-69 89 79 90 80 91 84 
			 70-74 88 78 89 79 89 82 
			 75 and over 88 78 88 78 89 82 
		
	
	
		
			 Coronary artery bypass graft 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Age Group Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited 
			 15-39 52 45 44 43 68 31 
			 40-49 52 42 56 48 44 27 
			 50-54 62 53 51 38 54 41 
			 55-59 62 59 56 47 57 47 
			 60-64 62 57 51 44 57 53 
			 65-69 70 56 56 47 52 46 
			 70-74 68 62 55 50 56 49 
			 75 and over 66 61 60 53 57 50 
		
	
	
		
			 Cochlear Implant 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Age group Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited 
			 15-39 55 43 103 35 53 37 
			 40-49 55 48 66 56 68 59 
			 50-54 59 44 54 51 59 54 
			 55-59 67 44 53 53 67 66 
		
	
	
		
			 60-64 68 47 67 55 61 53 
			 65-69 62 72 46 33 58 56 
			 70-74 58 57 75 65 56 48 
			 75 and over 52 38 59 48 59 55 
		
	
	
		
			 Cholecystectomy 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Age group Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited Mean time waited Median time waited 
			 15-39 62 55 66 58 69 62 
			 40-49 67 58 68 61 73 66 
			 50-54 66 58 70 63 74 66 
			 55-59 67 58 70 62 74 67 
			 60-64 67 58 71 63 75 66 
			 65-69 66 57 72 62 74 67 
			 70-74 67 57 70 63 76 69 
			 75 and over 67 57 71 62 76 68 
			 (1) Time waited (days) Time waited (days) statistics from hospital episode statistics (HES) are not the same as published referral to treatment (RTT) time waited statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients between decision to admit and admission to hospital within a given period. Published RTT waiting statistics measure the time waited between referral and start of treatment. The mean time waited is calculated by summing the time waited for all appropriate FAEs and dividing by. the number of FAEs, where the record contains a valid time waited. The median is the middle value when all records with a valid time waited are placed in ascending order of time waited. (2 ) Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within, one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. (3) Main procedure The first recorded procedure or intervention in each episode, usually the most resource intensive procedure or intervention performed during the episode. It is appropriate to use main procedure when looking at admission details, (eg time waited), but a more complete count of episodes with a particular procedure is obtained by looking at the main and the secondary procedures. Operative procedure codes were revised from 2006-07. 2009-10 data uses OPCS 4.5 codes, 2008-09 and 2007-08 data uses OPCS 4.4 codes, 2006-07 data uses OPCS 4.3 codes, data prior to 2006-07 uses OPCS 4.2 codes. All codes that were in OPCS 4.2 remain in later OPCS 4 versions, however the introduction of OPCS 4.3 codes enable the recording of interventions and procedures which were not possible in OPCS 4.2. In particular, OPCS 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5 codes include high cost drugs and diagnostic imaging, testing and rehabilitation. Some such activity may have been coded under different codes in OPCS 4.2. These changes may explain some apparent variations over time. Care needs to be taken in using the newer codes as some providers of data did not start using the new codes at the beginning of each data year. More information about OPCS 4 changes is on the Connecting for Health website: www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Surgery: Medical Equipment

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of disposable surgical instruments in each category supplied to the NHS in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

Simon Burns: The cost of disposable surgical instruments supplied to the national health service is not held centrally by the Department. However, the hon. Member may wish to contact individual NHS trusts for this information.

Tuberculosis

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of (a) tuberculosis and (b) drug-resistant tuberculosis there were in each primary care trust area in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Anne Milton: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Information is given by local authority, and as a three year average (2008-10) because the small numbers at individual local authority level in any one year could result in deductive disclosure of identity, has been placed in the Library.
	Provisional data for 2011 will not be available until March 2012.

EDUCATION

16-19 Bursary Fund

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what information his Department holds on the number of (a) applicants and (b) recipients of the 16 to 19 Bursary Scheme in (i) St Helens South and Whiston constituency, (ii) the north west and (iii) England; and what the level was of such awards.

Nick Gibb: Information on the numbers of young people who have benefitted from the 16-19 Bursary Fund since it began in September last year, is not held centrally. Information on payments made in St Helens South and Whiston will be held by the schools and colleges concerned.

Academies

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools have (a) converted and (b) applied to convert to academy status in (i) Rossendale and Darwen constituency, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) England.

Nick Gibb: As at 1 February 2012:
	(i) one school in Rossendale and Darwen constituency had applied and converted to academy status;
	(ii) 20 schools have applied in Lancashire and 16 have converted; and
	(iii) and 1,861 schools have applied in England, of which 1,243 have converted.
	Full details of schools that have converted to academy status can be found on the Department for Education Academies website at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/a0069811/schools-submitting-applications-and-academies-that-have-opened-in-201011

Academies

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many academy orders he has made by virtue of a school being eligible for intervention in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012.

Nick Gibb: Two academy orders were made by the Secretary of State for Education by virtue of a school being eligible for intervention in 2011. None have so far been made in 2012.

Academies: Sixth Form Education

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 41W, on academies, whether he plans that academy schools without post-16 provision will establish post-16 courses within the academy itself to ensure that all Year 11 pupils participate in education or training post-16.

Nick Gibb: Raising the participation age to ensure all young people participate in education or training post-16 does not mean that young people will be required to stay at school. Young people will be required to participate in education or training but can choose to do so through a number of routes: full-time education, which may be at a school but also at a college or otherwise; an apprenticeship, or full-time work with part-time education alongside.
	There is no expectation that any schools, including academies, will need to establish post-16 courses unless they wanted to do so. We secured sufficient resources through the Spending Review 2010 to fund a place in education for all 16 and 17-year-olds and, in fact, it is likely that any significant amount of extra provision needed to deliver full participation will not be in school settings but will be in other routes such as apprenticeships and further education colleges. It is for local authorities to identify the educational needs of young people in its area, and the needs of employers, and to ensure this is reflected in the provision that is made available.
	From September, schools will be placed under a duty to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance on the full range of 16 to 18 education and training options so that young people will be given clear advice and supported onto the post-16 provision which is most appropriate for them.

Children: Protection

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to revise the children in need census to improve local authority data collection on child neglect.

Tim Loughton: In England, national data are collected through the children in need census on the number of children who are assessed by children's social care services as being children in need and the reasons why they are in need, including whether that is for abuse or neglect. Data are also collected on the number of children who are the subject of a child protection plan by category of abuse including a category for neglect.
	The Department has been working with a range of stakeholders and sector leaders to take forward the Government's response to Professor Munro's recommendation to have a revised suite of local and national performance information to drive improvements in children's safeguarding. It has now published the suite of local children's safeguarding performance information that local areas will collect, following agreement with the sector. On 23 January the Department launched a public consultation asking for views on the proposed children's safeguarding national performance data recommended by Professor Eileen Munro. This consultation will run until 16 April 2012 and following the consultation we will decide what changes need to be made to the children in need census. Any changes will take effect from, at the earliest, the 2013-14 census.

Children: Social Services

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the reduction in funding from his Department to Hartlepool borough council for children's social care was in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and what the average reduction in local authorities funding in England was for children's social care in the same period.

Tim Loughton: The planned spend on children's social care for Hartlepool local authority in 2010-11 was £13,783,000. In 2011-12 it was £13,369,000, a decrease of £413,000 (3%). The average local authority decrease over the same period was 1%.
	These data come from the Section 251 budget return, in which LA's inform DfE of planned expenditure. The S251 budget collection on planned spend includes a wide range of expenditure on children and young people's services and social care. To calculate a figure for “children's social care” as requested, the following high level expenditure categories have been used:
	a. Total children looked after
	b. Total children and young people's safety
	c. Total family support services
	d. Total other children's and families services
	e. Total children's services strategy.

Departmental Food

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of food purchased by his Department was produced in the UK in each of the last five years.

Tim Loughton: In the last two years the proportion of food purchased by the Department that was produced in the UK was as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Percentage UK produce 
			 2010/11 54.9 
			 2009/10 54.7 
		
	
	Previously, between 2007 and 2010, DEFRA published three annual reports on food procurement which covered the period April 2006 to March 2009. The final one of this series is available at:
	http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/publicsectorfood/documents/100226-food-proc-initiative.pdf
	These reports include an estimate of the proportion of domestically produced food procured for Government Departments and also supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by NHS Supply Chain and the National Offender Management Service. A summary of all three years is on page 4 of this document. These reports were laid in the House Libraries.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement.

Tim Loughton: To establish whether any of the Department’s contracts issued or to be issued in 2011-12 required the successful organisation to put up a capital bond would incur disproportionate costs.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Tim Loughton: To establish whether the Department has tendered, or will tender in 2011-12, contracts which will require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million, and which contracts have not required such a bond, would incur disproportionate costs.

Dominic Cummings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  on how many occasions Dominic Cummings visited his Department between 12 May 2010 and 27 January 2011;
	(2)  on how many occasions Dominic Cummings visited him at his Department between 12 May 2010 and 27 January 2011.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 15 November 2012
	The Department for Education is not able to provide a definite figure for the number of occasions Mr Cummings visited the Department between 12 May 2010 and 27 January 2011. However, the Department can confirm that Mr Cummings was invited to 13 meetings between 12 May 2010 and 27 January 2011 which were held by the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove).

Education: Pilot Schemes

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the outcomes were of the pilot schemes conducted by local authorities on raising the education participation age.

Tim Loughton: Independent evaluations have been carried out on the first two phases of the raising the participation age (RPA) delivery projects. These reports present the learning from the project areas and highlight good practice and guiding principles for continued activities designed to achieve full participation. Both reports are available on the Department for Education's website:
	http://education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/youngpeople/participation/rpa/a0075564/raising-the-participation-age-rpa-locally-led-delivery-projectstrials
	From the phase two evaluation, a number of tools were developed which bring together the learning and emerging good practice from the work of the project areas in phases one and two. These tools set out more detailed examples of what the project areas have done, to help inform other areas as they consider their approach to RPA.
	An evaluation of the third phase of the RPA delivery projects is currently underway and the final evaluation report will be available in June 2012.
	A fourth phase of the delivery projects has been announced and will run from April 2012 to March 2013.

Females: Violence

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what Inter-Ministerial Group meetings on the cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy Ministers in his Department (a) have and (b) have not attended; what steps he is taking to ensure coordinated work with other Government departments on the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy; and if he will make a statement.

Tim Loughton: I attended the inter-ministerial group meeting on the cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy held in July 2010. I was represented by senior officials at IMG meetings in October and December 2010. I attended the IMG meetings in February, October and December 2011. I did not attend the June 2011 meeting. The Department for Education is working closely with other Government Departments in respect of the actions to which it is committed in the cross Government VAWG strategy.

Free Schools

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects the first free school specialising in mathematics for 16 to 18 year-olds to open; how many 16 to 18 year-olds he expects to enrol in free schools specialising in mathematics by 2015; with which universities he has discussed these free schools; and what guidance he plans to provide to people who wish to apply to open such a school.

Nick Gibb: We are developing proposals for how specialist maths schools for 16 to 18-year-olds might operate and will announce further details in due course. We are keen to engage with all those who have an interest to explore possible models and innovative ideas.

Local Authorities: Children

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many local authorities in England do not have a Director of Children's Services.

Tim Loughton: Section 18 of the Children's Act 2004 requires every upper tier local authority to appoint a Director of Children's Services. The Government's understanding is that all local authorities are compliant with this duty.

Primary Education: Standards

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department plans to take to collaborate with local authorities with large numbers of under-performing primary schools, as proposed in his June 2011 speech to the National College for School Leadership.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 6 February 2012
	We are determined to raise standards in underperforming schools. This is why in his speech to the National College of School Leadership on 16 June, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), announced that as an urgent priority, we will start work on turning around 200 of the most consistently underperforming primary schools by finding academy sponsors for them. We are currently working with all local authorities to discuss their worst performing schools with a particular focus on 10 local authorities with the highest number of schools below the floor across the regions.

Pupil Exclusions

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for how many permanently excluded pupils and students (a) of and (b) above compulsory school age his Department has (i) ongoing investigations and (ii) completed investigations into the circumstances for each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education typically has very low numbers of ongoing investigations into the circumstances of a permanent exclusion. The total number of current investigations is less than three and it is the Department's policy not to release more details in these circumstances as they could lead to the identification of an individual.
	Given the low number of investigations, the Department does not keep a record of the cases of permanent exclusion it has considered. To retrieve this information from archived correspondence would involve a disproportionate cost. However, the current number of ongoing cases is typical of the levels that the Department usually investigates.

Pupil Exclusions: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) East Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and Humber were excluded from school in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Information on the number of permanent exclusions and the number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions is shown in the tables.
	Data on fixed period exclusions was collected for the first time in 2003/04 via the Termly Exclusions Survey, and both fixed period and permanent exclusions were collected via the School Census for the first time in 2005/06. Data has been provided for 2005/06 to 2009/10. To provide data for further years would incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools (1, 2, 3) . Number of permanent exclusions (4)  2005/06 to 2009/10. Yorkshire and the Humber, East Riding of Yorkshire local authority and Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency 
			  Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools 
			  2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 
			  Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of school population (5) Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of school population (5) Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of school population (5) 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 770 0.10 670 0.09 530 0.07 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire local authority 30 0.06 20 0.05 30 0.06 
			 Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency 10 0.06 10 0.08 10 0.03 
		
	
	
		
			  Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools 
			  2008/09 2009/10 
			  Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of school population (5) Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of school population (5) 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 360 0.05 330 0.04 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire local authority 10 0.03 20 0.04 
			 Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency (6)— (6)— 10 0.05 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies). (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (4) Figures for the region and local authority were confirmed by local authorities as part of a data checking exercise, figures for the constituency are as provided by schools. (5) The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils (excluding dually registered pupils) at January each year. (6) Less than 5, or a percentage based on less than 5. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census 
		
	
	
		
			 Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools (1, 2, 3) . Number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions (4)  2005/06 to 2009/10. Yorkshire and the Humber, East Riding of Yorkshire local authority and Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency 
			  Maintained secondary schools 
			  2005/06 (5) 
			  Number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions Percentage of school population (6) 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 21,740 6.29 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire local authority 1,390 5.91 
			 Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency 320 3.76 
		
	
	
		
			  Maintained primary, stale-funded secondary and special schools 
			  2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 
			  Number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions Percentage of school population (6) Number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions Percentage of school population (6) Number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions Percentage of school population (6) Number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions Percentage of school population (6) 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 25,560 3.24 21,410 2.74 19,930 2.57 19,360 2.50 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire local authority 1,720 3.53 1,560 3.23 1,490 3.14 1,250 2.64 
			 Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency 400 2.55 370 2.41 390 2.61 320 2.14 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies). (3 )Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (4) Pupils may be counted more than once if they moved schools during the year, or are registered at more than one school. (5) For the 2005/06 school year, only information on fixed period exclusions from secondary schools was available. (6) The number of pupil enrolments with one or more fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils (excluding dually registered pupils) at January each year. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census

Pupils: Absenteeism

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) overall absence rate, (b) unauthorised absence rate and (c) number of persistent absentees was at each state-funded secondary school in each London borough in each academic year from 2005-06 to the latest figures available.

Nick Gibb: Information on the overall and unauthorised absence rates and number of persistent absentees in each state-funded secondary school in each London borough for 2005/06, 2007/08 and 2009/10 has been placed in the House Libraries. To provide information for further years would incur disproportionate cost.

School Leaving

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of school sixth formers left school before completing their post-16 studies in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The figures requested cannot be readily calculated from the school census data the Department collects from school sixth forms.

School Leaving

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many additional 17-year-olds will need to participate in education or training by 1 September 2013 to meet the requirements of the Education and Skills Act 2008; and what proportion of such people he expects to be in (a) a school sixth form, (b) a sixth-form college, (c) a further education college and (d) employment with training.

Tim Loughton: The Education and Skills Act 2008 requires that from September 2013 young people must remain in qualifying education and training until they reach academic age(1) 17. From 2015, the requirement to remain in education and training will be extended further, until the young person reaches their 18(th) birthday.
	How many more young people will need to remain in education and training can be estimated from the number of young people of academic age 16 who were in education and work-based learning at the end of 2010, the latest year for which we have information. This is regarded as the best proxy, from the National Statistics currently available, for provision that will satisfy the RPA requirements.
	At the end of 2010, the proportion of young people of academic age 16 in education and work-based learning was 96.1%, or 604,600. Based on figures for 2010, this means an additional 3.9% or 24,600 young people in England would have had to remain in learning. In 2013, the number of additional learners required is likely to be lower than the estimate based on 2010 data. The population of academic age 16-year-olds is projected to be around 616,500 in the year 2013/14. As such, just under 12,000 additional learning places would be required under RPA in 2013 over and above the numbers in education and work-based learning in 2010. The Department for Education is committed to funding places in education and training for all 16 to 17-year-olds.
	Table 1 shows the range of activities or types of educational institution that young people attended at the end of 2010.
	(1) Academic age is the age of the young person on the preceding 31 August, it effectively allocates young people into school years, so young people in year 11 will be academic age 15, actual age 15-16.
	
		
			 Table 1: Academic age 16-year-olds in education and work-based learning (1)  by route, end 2010 (provisional) 
			  Percentage Number 
			 Maintained schools 36.0 226,700 
			 Independent schools 6.5 40,900 
			 Sixth-form colleges 12.0 75,200 
			 General FE, tertiary and specialist colleges 37.8 238,100 
			 Higher education institutions 0.4 2,400 
			 Apprenticeships and Entry to Employment (E2E)(2) 3.4 21,200 
			 Total(3) 96.1 604,600 
			 (1) Source: DFE statistical first release “Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 Year Olds in England” (2) Discounted to allow for young people also participating in full or part-time education. (3) Figures may not add up due to rounding.

Schools: Armed Forces

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children have received the Service Pupil Premium since May 2010.

Sarah Teather: The service child premium is paid to schools on the basis of the number of full-time equivalent pupils in state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and maintained special schools recorded on roll as service children on the January 2011 School Census in year groups R-11. It was introduced in April 2011 and 45,070 pupils are eligible in 2011-12. Full details are available on the Department's website at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding/settlement2012pupilpremium/a0075963/pupil-premium-2011-12

Schools: Armed Forces

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children were registered as a service child in each academic year since May 2009.

Sarah Teather: Children are registered as being service children on the January School Census. In January 2010 there were 38,170 pupils registered at nursery, state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools as service children and in January 2011 there were 48,070. This is the total number of pupils registered and will include year groups not eligible for the service child premium.

Schools: Armed Forces

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children have had the Service Pupil Premium stopped since May 2010; and for what reasons.

Sarah Teather: The service child premium is paid to schools on the basis of the number of pupils in the school registered as service children on the January School Census. As long as a child is registered as a service child the premium will continue to be paid. For the first year of the premium the January 2011 Census provided the number eligible for the premium from April 2011 to March 2012. As this is the first year of the premium no child has ceased to be eligible since it was introduced. The Department will not hold any information for the reasons a child ceases to be eligible. The service child premium for 2012-13 will be based on the January 2012 School Census, when available.

Schools: Rossendale

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to improve the quality of school buildings in Rossendale and Darwen constituency.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education provides capital funding to all local authorities for investment in school buildings. It is the responsibility of Lancashire county council to prioritise the available funds across the schools in its estate.
	On 13 December 2011, Official Report, columns 92-5WS, we announced capital allocations to schools and local authorities for 2012-13, including £44 million for Lancashire county council. The council and its schools were allocated £69.6 million in 2011-12.

Science: GCSE

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils were entered for three separate sciences at GCSE in each local authority in 2010-11.

Nick Gibb: The percentage of pupils that were entered for GCSEs in the three separate sciences in 2010/11 for each local authority is given as follows.
	
		
			 Percentage of Pupils (1,2,3,4)  entered for GCSEs in separate sciences by local authority: year 2010/11 (revised), coverage: England 
			    Three separate sciences 
			    Percentage entered for GCSEs in: 
			 Region local authority LA region number Number of pupils at end Key Stage 4 Physics Chemistry Biological Sciences 
			 North East El2000001 29,305 18 18 18 
			 Darlington E06000005 1,129 19 19 19 
			 Durham E06000047 5,481 12 12 13 
			 Gateshead E08000020 2,219 20 20 20 
			 Hartlepool E06000001 1,285 15 . 15 15 
			 Middlesbrough E06000002 1,600 16 17 17 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne E08000021 2,553 17 17 17 
			 North Tyneside E08000022 2,165 16 16 16 
			 Northumberland E06000048 3,650 29 29 29 
			 Redcar and Cleveland E06000003 1,858 24 24 24 
			 South Tyneside E08000023 1,797 16 16 16 
			 Stockton-on-Tees E06000004 2,262 17 16 16 
			 Sunderland E08000024 3,306 16 16 16 
			       
			 North West El2000002 79,661 19 19 19 
			 Blackburn with Darwen E06000008 1,815 15 16 16 
			 Blackpool E06000009 1,557 12 12 12 
			 Bolton E08000001 3,418 19 19 19 
			 Bury E08000002 2,199 19 19 19 
			 Cheshire East E06000049 3,839 22 22 22 
			 Cheshire West and Chester E06000050 3,874 20 20 20 
			 Cumbria El0000006 5,716 24 24 24 
			 Halton E06000006 1,462 15 15 15 
			 Knowsley E08000011 1,578 8 8 8 
			 Lancashire El0000017 12,878 23 23 23 
			 Liverpool E08000012 5,136 15 15 15 
			 Manchester E08000003 4,432 15 15 16 
			 Oldham E08000004 2,967 16 15 17 
			 Rochdale E08000005 2,449 10 9 12 
			 Salford E08000005 2,198 13 13 13 
			 Sefton E08000014 3,383 15 15 15 
			 St Helens E08000013 1,977 15 15 15 
			 Stockport E08000007 3,006 23 23 23 
			 Tameside E08000008 2,845 14 14 14 
			 Trafford E08000009 2,829 21 21 21 
			 Warrington E06000007 2,475 25 25 25 
			 Wigan E08000010 3,772 20 20 20 
			 Wirral E08000015 3,856 29 29 29 
			       
			 Yorkshire and the Humber E12000003 59,052 18 19 19 
			 Barnsley E08000016 2,606 14 14 14 
			 Bradford E08000032 5,679 13 13 13 
		
	
	
		
			 Calderdale E08000033 2,590 19 19 19 
			 Doncaster E08000017 3,536 22 22 22 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire E06000011 3,952 17 17 17 
			 Kingston upon Hull, City of E06000010 2,613 6 6 6 
			 Kirklees E08000034 4,590 23 23 23 
			 Leeds E08000035 8,001 16 15 17 
			 North East Lincolnshire E06000012 1,886 10 12 11 
			 North Lincolnshire E06000013 2,042 17 17 17 
			 North Yorkshire E10000023 6,792 28 28 28 
			 Rotherham E08000018 3,491 18 18 18 
			 Sheffield E08000019 5,514 22 22 22 
			 Wakefield E08000036 3,985 16 16 16 
			 York E06000014 1,775 22 22 22 
			       
			 East Midlands El2000004 50,587 19 19 19 
			 Derby E06000015 2,837 20 20 20 
			 Derbyshire El0000007 8,760 19 19 19 
			 Leicester E06000016 3,393 15 15 15 
			 Leicestershire E10000018 7,460 17 17 17 
			 Lincolnshire E10000019 8,427 21 21 22 
			 Northamptonshire E10000021 7,893 22 22 23 
			 Nottingham E06000018 2,573 16 16 16 
			 Nottinghamshire E10000024 8,800 17 17 17 
			 Rutland E06000017 454 27 27 27 
			       
			 West Midlands E12000005 63,387 18 18 18 
			 Birmingham E08000025 12,159 21 21 21 
			 Coventry E08000026 3,471 10 10 11 
			 Dudley E08000027 3,805 15 15 16 
			 Herefordshire E06000019 1,877 14 14 14 
			 Sandwell E08000028 3,659 12 13 13 
			 Shropshire E06000051 3,207 17 17 17 
			 Solihull E08000029 3,027 20 20 20 
			 Staffordshire E10000028 9,408 18 18 18 
			 Stoke-on-Trent E05000021 2,618 11 11 11 
			 Telford and Wrekin E06000020 2,038 20 21 21 
			 Walsall E08000030 3,474 18 18 18 
			 Warwickshire El0000031 6,022 26 26 26 
			 Wolverhampton E08000031 2,558 15 16 15 
			 Worcestershire El0000034 6,064 19 19 19 
			       
			 East of England El2000006 64,585 22 22 23 
			 Bedford E06000055 1,630 19 19 19 
			 Cambridgeshire El0000003 5,967 28 28 28 
			 Central Bedfordshire E06000056 2,857 26 26 26 
			 Essex El0000012 15,887 20 20 20 
			 Hertfordshire E10000015 12,874 27 27 28 
			 Luton E06000032 2,408 15 15 15 
			 Norfolk El0000020 8,887 20 20 20 
			 Peterborough E06000031 2,276 20 20 20 
			 Southend-on-Sea E06000033 2,076 27 27 27 
			 Suffolk E10000029 7,741 21 22 22 
			 Thurrock E06000034 1,782 19 19 19 
			       
			 London El2000007 74,236 20 20 20 
			 Inner London E13000001 23,323 18 19 19 
			 Camden E09000007 1,491 13 13 13 
			 City of London E09000001 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Hackney E09000012 1,485 20 20 21 
		
	
	
		
			 Hammersmith and Fulham E09000013 1,071 32 32 32 
			 Haringey E09000014 2,107 20 20 20 
			 Islington E09000019 1,351 11 11 11 
			 Kensington and Chelsea E09000020 581 14 14 14 
			 Lambeth E09000022 1,611 22 22 22 
			 Lewisham E09000023 2,202 23 23 23 
			 Newham E09000025 3,311 10 10 10 
			 Southwark E09000028 2,337 17 19 19 
			 Tower Hamlets E09000030 2,553 21 21 22 
			 Wandsworth E09000032 1,846 25 25 25 
			 Westminster E09000033 1,377 18 18 18 
			       
			 Outer London E13000002 50,913 20 20 20 
			 Barking and Dagenham E09000002 2,060 13 12 15 
			 Barnet E09000003 3,387 15 15 15 
			 Bexley E09000004 3,260 23 23 23 
			 Brent E09000005 2,840 23 23 23 
			 Bromley E09000006 3,438 21 21 21 
			 Croydon E09000008 3,719 17 17 17 
			 Ealing E09000009 2,811 20 20 20 
			 Enfield E09000010 3,563 18 18 18 
			 Greenwich E09000011 2,275 17 17 17 
			 Harrow E09000015 2,141 21 21 21 
			 Havering E09000016 3,080 15 15 15 
			 Hillingdon E09000017 2,982 17 17 17 
			 Hounslow E09000018 2,586 15 16 17 
			 Kingston upon Thames E09000021 1,524 33 33 33 
			 Merton E09000024 1,525 22 22 24 
			 Redbridge E09000026 3,266 25 26 26 
			 Richmond upon Thames E09000027 1,374 20 20 20 
			 Sutton E09000029 2,636 44 44 44 
			 Waltham Forest E09000031 2,456 11 11 11 
			       
			 South East E12000008 88,521 23 23 23 
			 Bracknell Forest E06000036 1,093 26 26 26 
			 Brighton and Hove E06000043 2,324 14 14 14 
			 Buckinghamshire El0000002 5,525 41 41 41 
			 East Sussex El0000011 5,201 20 20 20 
			 Hampshire El0000014 13,860 21 21 21 
			 Isle of Wight E06000046 1,485 19 19 19 
			 Kent El0000016 16,173 22 23 23 
			 Medway E06000035 3,231 22 21 22 
			 Milton Keynes E06000042 2,707 18 18 18 
			 Oxfordshire El0000025 6,179 24 24 24 
			 Portsmouth E06000044 1,949 14 14 14 
			 Reading E06000038 987 29 29 30 
			 Slough E06000039 1,570 23 23 23 
			 Southampton E06000045 2,044 23 23 23 
			 Surrey El0000030 10,725 22 22 22 
			 West Berkshire E06000037 1,983 20 20 20 
			 West Sussex El0000032 8,266 21 21 21 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead E06000040 1,516 36 36 36 
			 Wokingham E06000041 1,703 27 27 27 
			       
			 South West E12000009 55,540 22 22 22 
			 Bath and North East Somerset E06000022 2,134 25 25 25 
			 Bournemouth E06000028 1,703 25 25 25 
			 Bristol, City of E06000023 3,030 17 17 17 
			 Cornwall E06000052 5,750 20 20 20 
			 Devon E10000008 7,503 21 21 21 
		
	
	
		
			 Dorset El0000009 4,220 24 24 24 
			 Gloucestershire E10000013 6,624 23 23 24 
			 Isles of Scilly E06000053 19 26 26 26 
			 North Somerset E06000024 2,303 21 21 21 
			 Plymouth E06000026 2,885 14 14 14 
			 Poole E06000029 1,601 30 30 30 
			 Somerset El0000027 5,480 21 21 21 
			 South Gloucestershire E06000025 3,254 20 20 20 
			 Swindon E06000030 2,196 29 29 29 
			 Torbay E06000027 1,490 17 17 17 
			 Wiltshire E06000054 5,148 24 24 24 
			       
			 England (maintained sector) E92000001 564,874 20 20 20 
			 n/a = Not applicable. (1) Figures are based on pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. (2) For each subject, only one attempt is counted—that which achieved the highest grade. This is including attempts by these pupils in previous academic years. (3) Local authority, region and the England (maintained sector) figures in this table do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (4) Figures cover achievements in maintained schools including academies but exclude hospital schools, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and Alternative Provision (AP). Source: 'GCSE and Equivalent Results in England, 2010/11 (Revised)' available at the following link: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001056/index.shtml

Sixth Form Education: Assessments

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of post-16 students studied (a) A levels and (b) the international baccalaureate in (i) Dartford constituency, (ii) Kent and (iii) the UK in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: The information requested for Dartford, Kent and England can be found in the following table for the academic year 2007/08 to 2010/11. Data for 2006/07 can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Number of students (1)  aged 16-18 (2)  and percentage entering A levels (3)  and the international baccalaureate in Dartford (4) , Kent (5)  and England (6) , 2007/08 to 2010/11, maintained schools (including CTCs and academies) and further education sector colleges 
			   Number of students (1)  aged 16-18 (2) Percentage entering A levels (3) Percentage entering the international baccalaureate 
			 2007/08 Dartford 1,138 52.6 12.3 
			  Kent 8,412 79.0 2.4 
			  England 295,124 76.3 0.4 
			 2008/09 Dartford 1,357 41.8 16.6 
			  Kent 9,345 70.2 4.8 
			  England 315,361 71.6 0.6 
			 2009/10 Dartford 1,535 40.1 13.4 
			  Kent 10,091 65.7 4.8 
			  England 342,018 67.8 0.6 
			 2010/11 Dartford 1,580 34.1 14.1 
			  Kent 9,963 64.0 4.3 
			  England 336,139 67.0 0.7 
			 (1) 16 to 18-year-old students entered for level 3 qualifications at least equivalent in size to one GCE/applied GCE A level. (2) Age at the start of the academic year i.e. 31 August 2010 for 2010/11. (3) Those students entered for GCE/applied GCE A levels and double awards. (4) Parliamentary constituency figures are based on the postcode of the school. (5) Local authority figures are based on the local authority area of the school. (6) England figures are the sum of all local authority figures. Source: 2007/08 to 2009/10: National Pupil Database (final data). 2010/11: Key stage 5 attainment data (revised data).

Special Educational Needs

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many young people with (a) autism and (b) a disability will enter the education system when the participation age is raised in (i) 2013 and (ii) 2015; and what steps he is taking to ensure such demand for places can be met.

Sarah Teather: All 16 and 17-year-olds who are able to do so will be expected to participate in education or training when the participation age is raised to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015. We do not know how many of those young people will have a disability or autism. However, work to assess the financial implications of raising the participation age took into account that more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds will be accessing education, including more who will need extra support to participate.
	The Green Paper “Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Disability”, sets out our aspirations to help young people with special education needs or disabilities make the most of their future, and to give them the best chance of a fulfilling adulthood with employment, good health and independence. Our proposals include access to better quality vocational and work-related learning options to enable young people to progress in their learning post-16 and the development of supported internships. We are considering responses to the consultation on these proposals and will be publishing a report with our progress and next steps shortly.

Young People: Unemployment

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to his statistical release dated 29 November 2011, what proportion of people aged (a) 16, (b) 17 and (c) 18 years old who were not in education, employment or training were not qualified to at least Level one in each of the last five years.

Tim Loughton: Quarterly data from the Labour Force Survey on the number and proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds NEET in England are published in the statistical release (SR) ‘NEET Quarterly Brief’. The most recent version was released on 24 November 2011.
	The Labour Force Survey does not distinguish between those at Level 1 or below Level 1, but does indicate whether respondents are above or below Level 2, based on the qualifications they report. Sample sizes in the Labour Force Survey are not sufficient to produce robust estimates of qualification levels for young people NEET by single age group, so estimates for 16 to 18-year-olds combined are provided in this response.
	The following table shows the proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds who were below Level 2 in Quarter 3 of each year since 2007, for both the NEET group and those in education, employment or training (EET).
	
		
			 Proportion of young people below Level 2 (1) 
			 Percentage 
			  Q3 2007 Q3 2008 Q3 2009 Q3 2010 Q3 2011 
			 16 to 18-year-olds in EET 28 28 25 23 21 
			 16 to 18-year-olds NEET 56 57 53 50 44 
			 All 16 to 18-year-olds 32 32 28 27 24 
			 (1) Confidence intervals around these estimates at the 95% level are around +/- 5 percentage points for the NEET group, and +1-2 percentage points for the EET group. These confidence intervals are based on sampling error alone. The results will also be subject to respondent error, because the attainment levels in the LFS are assigned based on self-reported qualifications.

Young People: Voluntary Work

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many young people took part in the National Citizen Service pilot in summer 2011; and what the cost to the public purse was of the programme.

Tim Loughton: This information is being finalised as part of the evaluation of the 2011 pilots. Early indications are that at least 8,300 young people participated in NCS. The allocation of Government funding towards the 2011 pilots was £14,900,000.
	The interim NCS evaluation report will be published in March.

Youth Services: Expenditure

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much each local authority reported in its Section 251 financial returns as outturn expenditure on (a) youth work, (b) Connexions and (c) all provisions for young people per capita in 2010-11; and what proportion of the equivalent figures for 2008-09 this represents.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The information requested on individual local authorities' spend on youth provision in 2010-11 and comparison with spending in 2008-09 requested has been placed in the House Libraries.
	The categories used to record spending on services for young people between 2008-09 and 2010-11 have changed. This means that it is not possible to make reliable year on year comparisons for spending in specific areas. The new method of collection meant that some LAs did not fill in certain fields properly, or at all, and so some figures should be used with extreme caution as it is unlikely they reflect the actual situation and spend within the LA. For example, it is thought to be highly unlikely that an LA would have zero spend on Youth Work across a financial year. Data on spending on student support have not been included in the figures on provisions for young people but have been provided separately in the table.

Youth Services: Expenditure

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the capacity of the Connexions Caseload Information System to monitor participation of 16 to 18 year-olds in education or training.

Tim Loughton: The Client Caseload Information System (CCIS) has been maintained by local authorities since 2003. It is an important tool that they use to gather and record information about the participation of young people in their area in education or training. This enables local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to support young people to engage in learning.
	Each local authority is able to develop their own CCIS system to best meet the needs of young people in their area. These local CCIS databases provide aggregate data automatically to the National CCIS system, which can be used by local authorities to compare their position with neighbouring areas, improving joint working and performance on young people's participation.
	Monitoring and supporting young people's participation in education and training will become increasingly important as we raise the participation age to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015. As we have made clear in statutory guidance, local authorities will continue to use their CCIS databases to accurately record young people's participation so that they can support those young people who are not participating. Local authorities fund their work to support young people's participation through the Early Intervention Grant.